Local News Tuesday 29th June

Tuesday, 29 June 2021 06:00

More than a dozen further cases of the Indian or Delta variant of Covid have been recorded in South Somerset. Learners drivers in South Somerset are having to wait even longer to take a driving test. Four people needed hospital treatment following a two-vehicle crash in the village of Penselwood, near Wincanton. Fire has damaged a house in Combe Close in Yeovil. A delay has been announced to the start of work on smartening up Yeovil town centre...and more.

More than a dozen further cases of the Indian or Delta variant of Covid have been recorded in South Somerset. The latest figures show there were 34 new cases of the Delta variant recorded in the greater Yeovil Area in the seven days up to June 23rd. This is twenty more cases than the week before.

Learners drivers in South Somerset are having to wait even longer to take a driving test. According to data from the insurance provider ‘Veygo’, test centres in Yeovil, Taunton and Weston-super-Mare are each showing “no dates found” when learners try to book. Nationally, test centres say the earliest that a test can be booked is November.

Four people needed hospital treatment following a two-vehicle crash in the village of Penselwood, near Wincanton. It happened at around 8 pm on Sunday evening with one person left trapped for 2-hours before being released by fire crews.

Fire has damaged a house in Combe Close in Yeovil. Reports of a loud bang being heard preceding the blaze have been attributed to a gas boiler in a loft space exploding. Crews from Yeovil, Sherborne, Martock and Crewkerne attended the incident. No one was hurt.

A delay has been announced to the start of work on smartening up Yeovil town centre. Construction had been due to begin this month on Yeovil Refresh but South Somerset District Council said it will now be mid-July before work starts. The Council says the delay is to allow time to secure additional funding for the Yeovil Refresh project, above the £10 million already given by the government

A woman from Chard wants more GPs to take up free training about menopause. Nikki Long is promoting training from The Menopause Charity. She says she struggled to get her GP to recognise her pre-menopausal symptoms. Somerset NHS Clinical Commissioning Group says it's exploring options around how to improve support for women experiencing menopause.

More from News

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.