Somerset Community Council doubts that people living in rural areas of Somerset will be helped by the Chancellor’s Spring Statement. Plans have been submitted to convert a former church in Yeovil into flats. A specialist unit for secondary school-age children with autism in Mendip is to move from Frome to Glastonbury. Unions have criticised a decision to allow care staff in Somerset to carry on working even when they have Covid...and more.
Somerset Community Council doubts that people living in rural areas of Somerset will be helped by the Chancellor’s Spring Statement. Rishi Sunak announced yesterday he would raise the threshold for paying National Insurance, cut fuel duty by five pence per litre, and cut the basic rate of income tax, but Keeley Rudd, Chief Executive of Somerset Community Council, says for people in rural areas who rely heavily on using a car, the changes are unlikely to be much of a benefit.
Plans have been submitted to convert a former church in Yeovil into flats. The building on Larkhill Road was formerly used as a church and day nursery but has been empty for a number of years.
A specialist unit for secondary school-age children with autism in Mendip is to move from Frome to Glastonbury. Somerset county council has decided to move its Mendip autism base to the grounds of St Dunstan's School in Glastonbury, where building work will start shortly on part of the playing fields.
Unions have criticised a decision to allow care staff in Somerset to carry on working even when they have Covid. It follows concerns expressed by Somerset County Council that vulnerable residents in care homes would be put at more at risk of contracting other illnesses if staff were not allowed to work as normal.
A children’s pre-school in the village of Hinton St George has been provided with a new building. The building forms part of Hinton St George Primary School and has been paid for by donations and local fundraising.
A new website has been launched to support people in Somerset with mental health issues. One of Yeovil’s oldest pubs has been sold. Artwork on the theme of aviation produced by students at Yeovil College has gone on display at Leonardo Helicopters in Yeovil.A pupil at Tatworth Primary School near Chard has won a prize in a national competition for writing a book review...and more
Work laying a gas main on the A37 Dorchester Road near the Quicksilver Mail roundabout in Yeovil is to continue for a further two months. Somerset Council says the public toilets in Yeovil bus station will close at the end of the month but the waiting room will stay open temporarily. Former Yeovil Town Captain, Josh Staunton, has set up in business as a professional gardener...and more.
Somerset Council seeking to save £40 million by cutting one thousand jobs says 201 employees have so far applied to leave the authority based on voluntary redundancy. East Somerset Railway near Shepton Mallet has been used for filming the TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper's novel Rivals. An old-style red phone box in Castle Cary is being turned into Somerset's smallest museum...and more
Somerset's Chief Medical Officer says GP surgeries using healthcare professionals alongside doctors to provide treatments has freed up GP appointments. A farmer has been fined £15,000 for polluting a household water supply. Avon and Somerset’s new Police and Crime Commissioner has officially started work in the role. Chard Post Office is closed today for the handover of the business to new owners...and more.
Health inspectors have criticised Somerset's maternity services, including those at Yeovil Hospital. Somerset Council says re-opening Yeovil’s Octagon Theatre in its original form could cost up to £200,000 if a multi-million-pound upgrade of the building falls through. A film made by a Yeovil man on a budget of just five thousand pounds was screened at the prestigious British Independent Film Festival...and more.
The Ferne Animal Sanctuary near Chard says it needs an immediate injection of £100,000 to keep going. Yeovil’s Marlie Packer has returned to Yeovil Rugby Club where she began her rugby career 20 years ago. Twenty-five Town criers from across the South will be in Ilminster tomorrow competing in the annual Ilminster Town Criers' Competition...and more.
Train services through Somerset are again being disrupted today due to continued strike action by the train driver’s union ALSEF. A campaign has been launched in Somerset aimed at stopping people overdosing on opioids. A Somerset business is raising a smile with its name.‘Top Of The Clops’, a tack shop near Taunton has won a place in the top ten of the UK’s funniest business names...and more.
A woman driver has been told she faces a prison term for causing the deaths of two people in a crash on the A303. The AA says there are more potholes than ever on Somerset’s motorway network, leading to an increase in damage to vehicles. The new cancer treatment unit at Yeovil Hospital should be open before the end of the year...and more.
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