South Somerset District Council says it’s exploring all options to complete the pavement improvements to Westminster Street in Yeovil. Somerset has been named as one of the fifty-five places in England to get extra investment in education. The police share of the council tax is set to rise by £10 from April and Chard Rugby has been accepted onto the prestigious training programme at Bath Rugby.
South Somerset District Council says it’s exploring all options to complete the pavement improvements to Westminster Street in Yeovil after the company carrying out the upgrade stopped work last Friday. It follows the announcement that Midas Construction has run to financial difficulties and plans to put the business into administration. SSDC also awarded Midas the contract to upgrade the bandstand area in Lower Middle Street in Yeovil with amphitheatre seating, a giant outdoor TV screen and a central water feature. Work on that scheme has yet to start.
Somerset has been named as one of the fifty-five places in England to get extra investment in education. The government's announced extra cash and support for schools, early years, and further education in areas which are lagging behind like Somerset, as part of its ‘levelling up’ strategy.
The police share of the council tax is set to rise by £10 from April. It’ll mean an average band-D property paying an extra 83 pence per month for policing. Avon and Somerset Police say the additional money will allow it to manage inflationary pressures and make it less likely that savings will be needed in frontline services.
Chard Rugby has been accepted onto the prestigious training programme at Bath Rugby. The programme is aimed at giving local rugby teams a chance to access more professional coaching and training facilities.
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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