Local News Thursday 8th April

Thursday, 8 April 2021 07:30

An inquest has been opened and adjourned into the death of Yeovil Town captain Lee Collins. Taylor Woodrow Plus has won the contract to upgrade the A358 between the Southfields roundabout near Ilminster and M5. The Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Police, Andy Marsh is leaving his post. A Chard man has appeared in court charged with a drink and driving offence....and more.

An inquest has been opened and adjourned into the death of Yeovil Town captain Lee Collins. The hearing was told the footballer was pronounced dead after being found in his room at the Lanes Hotel in West Coker on March 31st. Somerset Senior Coroner, Tony Williams, asked for further reports and adjourned the inquest to July 7th. Meanwhile, £4,000 has been raised through a public appeal to help Lee Collins’s family. The appeal is being run through social media by Yeovil Town Disabled Supporters.

Taylor Woodrow Plus has won the contract to upgrade the A358 between the Southfields roundabout near Ilminster and M5. Highways England will spend £328 million turning a 9-mile stretch of the road into a dual carriageway, together with a reduction in the number of road junctions and private accesses onto the A358.

The Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Police, Andy Marsh is leaving his post. He says it’s the right time to embark on a new challenge, and won't be seeking to extend his contract beyond June. Andy Marsh joined the Avon and Somerset force in 1987 and was appointed Chief Constable in 2016.

A Chard man has appeared in court charged with a drink and driving offence. Lanis Fustei of Samuel Vickery Way in Chard was disqualified from driving for two-and-a-half years and given 80 hours of unpaid work. Magistrates in Yeovil also fined him £346 for driving without the correct insurance. Fustei pleaded guilty to both offences.
At the same court, Daniel Marks of Swanmead Drive, in Ilminster, pleaded guilty to a drink driving charge and was fined £300 and given 80 hours unpaid work.

An extra eight million pounds has been allocated towards supporting care providers in Somerset. The money from the County Council is to help those most affected financially by the pandemic. The Council says around half of the funding will be given to those in greatest need in the form of a Covid supplementary payment.

A fundraising event themed around the story of Homeward Bound is raising money for the Ferne Animal Sanctuary near Chard. The charity is encouraging people to walk, cycle, even to swim the 200 miles distance on which the Homeward Bound story is based

More from News

Thursday 25th April

The NHS is offering spring COVID-19 vaccines to people in Somerset who are at increased risk of serious illness from the virus. A new way of making roads safer for children in Somerset has started this week. A Yeovil-based apprentice has been named as a winner in the JTL Regional Awards. Haselbury Mill near Crewkerne has been put up for sale...and more
Wednesday 24th April

Yeovil Town FC have sent a strongly worded letter to the Football Association asking for plans to end FA Cup replays to be dropped. A Somerset woman who's spent the last 32 years living with Hepatitis C, says better support is needed for those affected by the contaminated blood scandal. A new school of musical theatre has opened in Chard...and more.
Tuesday 23rd April

Two teenage boys have admitted animal cruelty after filming themselves throwing a lamb down a stone staircase at Montacute. Somerset Council could lose around £5 million by selling the Marks and Spencer building in Yeovil. Chard, Wincanton, Castle Cary and Ansford are on a list of fifteen places in Somerset where new 20 mph speed limits could soon be introduced...and more.
Monday 22nd April

The parents of a two-week-old baby boy, accused of his murder at Yeovil Hospital, are to stand trial. Protesters have splashed red paint across the front of County Hall in Taunton for a second time. A comedy film about the world of competitive marrow-growing and made in Shepton Mallet has opened in cinemas across the UK...and more.
Friday 19th April

Work starts today building a new eastbound carriageway as part of dualling the A303 between Sparkford and Podimore. A childhood obesity clinic in Somerset has revealed that it is treating children as young as eight months old. Somerset Wildlife Trust has launched a campaign to recruit an army of young people to act as conservation champions...and more.
Thursday 18th April

A Martock man has been jailed after admitting to shining lasers at aircraft flying over Yeovil. Police are investigating an attempted break-in at the TK Maxx store at Babylon Hill. Nearly four hundred people have put their names forward for redundancy at Somerset Council...and more.
Wednesday 17 April

Three local primary schools have been named on a list of England's top five hundred primary schools. A new co-working space for businesswomen has opened in Wincanton. Urgent repairs are being carried out to Ilminster's new public clock after it started showing the wrong time...and more
Tuesday 16th April

A new operator has been found to run a Chard care home that has been at risk of closure. A licence has been granted to run a new music festival in West Dorset. People have until midnight tonight to register for a vote in the election for a Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon and Somerset...and more.