Record numbers of young people are being treated for eating disorders in Somerset. The Environment Agency has launched a month-long series of patrols targeted at people fishing illegally in Somerset. A national team is working with the police and South Somerset District Council to help educate people on how to spot a loan shark. A contractor has been appointed to undertake major improvement works to the town centre in Chard...and more.
Record numbers of young people are being treated for eating disorders in Somerset. New figures show 128 young people began treatment for issues like anorexia and bulimia between July 2020 and June of this year, which was 82 more than in the same period the year previous. Somerset NHS Foundation Trust says the pandemic, causing anxiety and isolation had contributed to young people developing eating disorders for the first time.
The Environment Agency has launched a month-long series of patrols targeted at people fishing illegally in Somerset. Enforcement officers with support from the Angling Trust, voluntary bailiffs and local police are conducting patrols around rivers, lakes and ponds to protect fisheries from harmful activity, including theft and fishing with illegal traps. The patrols coincide with National Fishing Month that runs to the end of August.
A national team is working with the police and South Somerset District Council to help educate people how to spot a loan shark. The 'bite back' campaign has been launched to offer support and highlight alternative and safe ways for people to borrow money.
A contractor has been appointed to undertake major improvement works to the town centre in Chard. Civil engineers, Alun Griffiths Ltd, will carry out the works in Fore Street, Holyrood Street, Boden Street and the Eastern Gateway. South Somerset District Council, who over see the Chard Regeneration Project, say it will create a better town centre environment, worthy of Chard’s historic character, meanwhile, Chard looks set to get a new business centre. Somerset County Council plan to build the centre on land they own near the recycling centre, on Beeching Close. It's the latest in a series of County Council funded enterprise centres for small and medium size businesses.
A project is coming to Somerset aimed at encourage more people to cycle. 'Get Somerset Cycling' is led by the national charity Lifecycle UK and offers a range of incentives to help people feel better mentally and physically through cycling.
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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