Local News Thursday 30th June

Thursday, 30 June 2022 06:00

Eleven thousand more people now live in South Somerset compared to ten years ago, according to the 2021 Census. A bypass for Chard, planned seven years ago, is coming under fresh scrutiny. A further eleven thousand homes in South Somerset are to get ultrafast broadband. Anyone who sets up unauthorised camps in Somerset could now be given a prison sentence and a fine of £2,500 and a new book is due out soon telling the story of Montacute.

Eleven thousand more people now live in South Somerset compared to ten years ago, according to the 2021 Census, details of which have just been published. The Census shows 172,700 people living in South Somerset, up 7 percent from 161,243 in the last census of 2011. The balance of men and women in South Somerset has also changed with 48.9 percent of the population male and 51.1 percent female. The population is also aging. A decade ago, 21.6 percent of people in South Somerset were aged over 65s, now over 65-year-olds account for 25.5 percent of the local population.

A bypass for Chard, planned seven years ago, is coming under fresh scrutiny. The Chard Eastern Relief Road is meant to divert traffic away from the town centre but a petition has been launched asking for the road to be routed well away from the town's reservoir and nature reserve.

A further eleven thousand homes in South Somerset are to get ultrafast broadband, thanks to extra funding from the government. It brings the number of homes and businesses in South Somerset provided with ultrafast broadband by Wessex Internet to 4,700 with places like Isle Abbotts, South Petherton, Tintinhull and Bower Hinton better connected.

Anyone who sets up unauthorised camps in Somerset could now be given a prison sentence and a fine of £2,500. The new Police Act has introduced extra legislation to protect landowners.

A new book is due out soon telling the story of Montacute. The ‘Book of Montacute’ is the second in a series of histories of the village written by local author, Clarence Bradley, who has lived in Montacute since 1944.

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Monday 16th June

The new owner of Yeovil Town says he’s in talks with Somerset Council about buying back Huish Park. Water levels at some of Somerset’s reservoirs are below what they should be for this time of year. A Chard woman has been recognised in the King's Birthday Honours... and more.
Friday 13th June

Police are appealing for witnesses to a road traffic accident near Chard, which left one person with life-threatening injuries. Texas Rocks in Middle Street, Yeovil, has closed temporarily following a significant fire. A Yeovil dental hygienist has been named as a finalist in the Ms Great Britain competition...and more.
Thursday 12th June

Yeovil MP Adam Dance has criticised the Chancellor’s Spending Review for not delivering real change for Yeovil and South Somerset. The CEO of Leonardo UK states that they’re working towards closing the gender pay gap within the company. Yeovil Town is relocating its first-team training camp to Bristol... and more.
Wednesday 11th June

People in Somerset are being asked for their views on the state of the county’s roads and footpaths. A trial is being conducted at Yeovil Hospital to investigate whether administering shorter courses of antibiotics to patients can effectively treat sepsis. Somerset Council says it has no plans to reopen a block of public toilets in Chard...and more.
Tuesday 10th June

A mother from Chard says schools need to do more to identify students with dyslexia. A fire in a van that caught alight at Stoke-sub-Hamdon is being treated as accidental. A former Yeovil-based police officer, who made it appear he was working when he wasn’t, has been barred from policing...and more
Monday 9th June

Somerset Council is giving £1.5m to Hill View Special School at Ash near Martock to prevent it from closing. Two men have been convicted of killing a Yeovil man they mistakenly believed to be a convicted paedophile. People across Somerset are being asked to make a note of any wildlife they see...and more
Friday 6th June

Community Speedwatch volunteers in Keinton Mandeville have stopped monitoring the local traffic because of online and verbal abuse. Redstart Primary School in Chard has been rated as ‘Good’ by Ofsted. A care home resident in Glastonbury has raised more than one thousand pounds for Children's Hospice Southwest by knitting soft toys...and more.
Thursday 5th June

Yeovil MP Adam Dance says he’s been told the temporary closure of the maternity unit at Yeovil Hospital will not be made permanent. Firefighters have dealt with a fire on a coach carrying passengers at Vagg Hill in Yeovil. The authorities in Chile are holding a man who lives in Milborne Port after being found with class-A drugs in a suitcase...and more.