Work has begun on building a new hard-surface runway at the Leonardo Helicopters airfield in Yeovil. The NHS in Somerset is offering patients' families training to help look after them once they leave hospital. Somerset County Council is urging the government to act more quickly over an issue that has brought new local house building almost to a standstill. The AA says more than three-fifths of UK motorists have not read recent updates to the Highway Code and another local pub has been put up for sale.
Work has begun on building a new hard-surface runway at the Leonardo Helicopters airfield in Yeovil. The first stage of the project involved constructing a support building located close to the runway. Addressing local concerns raised at a public meeting on building the new runway, Leonardo said it would allow for small fixed-wing aircraft to take off and land but that there were no plans to encourage more planes to use the airfield.
The NHS in Somerset is offering patients' families training to help look after them once they leave hospital. It's for patients who are medically well enough to leave but who still need some help with their care.
Somerset County Council is urging the government to act more quickly over an issue that has brought new local house building almost to a standstill. The council wants plans for water companies to upgrade their treatment plants brought forward to improve the removal of phosphates from sewage. The issue of nutrient neutrality has seen many housing and business developments in Somerset held up as planning permissions cannot be granted because of the resulting increased pollution into sensitive environments such as the Somerset Levels.
The AA says more than three-fifths of UK motorists have not read recent updates to the Highway Code. New guidance was issued in January giving pedestrians, cyclists, and horse riders, greater priority on the roads.
Another local pub has been put up for sale. The Marston Inn at Marston Magna near Yeovil features two bars, a restaurant, and a skittle alley and stands alongside the main A359 and is being sold with a guide price of £395,000.
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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