Local News Tuesday 20th June

Tuesday, 20 June 2023 06:00

By Steve Haigh

New technology is being used to help identify people in Somerset at risk of developing liver disease. Tributes are being paid to Somerset racehorse owner, Paul Barber, who has died at the age of 80. Plans have been submitted to convert an office block in Yeovil town centre into a house of multiple occupation...and more.

New technology is being used to help identify people in Somerset at risk of developing liver disease. The project involves analysing people’s historic blood results and, where signs of liver disease are spotted, offering them early treatment.

Tributes are being paid to Somerset racehorse owner, Paul Barber, who has died at the age of 80. His best-known horses, See More Business and Denman, enjoyed big race successes, including winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Paul Barber was also well known as a Somerset cheese maker.

Plans have been submitted to convert an office block in Yeovil town centre into a house of multiple occupation. If approved by Somerset Council, the former Porter Dodson offices on Church Path, next to St John’s Church, would be turned into a fifteen-bed unit.

Funding has been provided to plant a further twenty thousand new trees across Somerset as part of efforts to reduce flooding. The ‘Trees for Water’ project has been given sixty-thousand pounds in funding to plant trees across the county aimed at reducing surface water run-off in targeted areas.

The Big Wildlife Count is taking place in Somerset this week. People are being asked to look out for common species like goldfinch, dragonflies, spiders and butterflies and record their sightings online. The project is being run jointly by the Somerset Wildlife Trust and Somerset Environmental Records Centre.

The Head of the Ferne Animal Sanctuary near Chard is walking a forty-six-mile walk today and tomorrow, raising funds for the charity. On his way over to Chard from the Ferne Estate in Wiltshire, Kevan Hodges will be passing through Henstridge, Milborne Port, West Coker, Haselbury Plucknet, Crewkerne, Roundham, and Cricket St Thomas.

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Thursday 30th July

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Tuesday 28th July

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Monday 27th July

Gooch and Housego, based in Ilminster and one of the town’s biggest employers, has been sold in a multi-million-pound deal to an American private equity firm. A father who shook his four-week-old baby to death at a house in Chard has been sentenced to life in prison. A doctor who works for the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance is one of five people to have jointly set a new world record for rowing around Great Britain... and more
Friday 24th July

Avon and Somerset Police are warning people to watch out for scammers posing as Amazon. The CEO of the company that provides Somerset's recycling is warning of a major incident if people continue to put used batteries in waste bins. A former Yeovil pub could be demolished to make way for a major hotel expansion.
Thursday 23rd July

The West Country is officially one step closer to being declared in drought. Somerset Council says it's remodelling its service after a children's home was closed following an inspection. A new McDonald's planned off the M5 at Bridgwater could create up to 120 local jobs... and more
Wednesday 22nd July

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