Local News Wednesday 19th May

Wednesday, 19 May 2021 06:00

Somerset County Council is setting aside ten million pounds to help Somerset recover from the impact of the Covid pandemic. People are being asked to vote on the planned changes in local government in Somerset. Police are appealing for help in finding a local man. Plans for a 70-bed care home in Chard have been submitted to South Somerset District Council. Six horses have been stolen in Bower Hinton...and more.

Somerset County Council is setting aside ten million pounds to help Somerset recover from the impact of the Covid pandemic. Two million pounds will be spent on expanding local work to control Covid outbreaks. There'll also be funding to support people whose mental health has been affected.

People are being asked to vote on the planned changes in local government in Somerset. The choice is between replacing the County Council and four District Councils with one council for Somerset proposed by the County Council or two councils; one to cover the Eastern half of Somerset and another for the Western half of the county, proposed by Somerset’s District Councils. The District Councils have written to the Secretary of State to ask that the result be considered as part of the decision making on the future of local government in Somerset. The poll closes at 5 pm on Friday, the 4th of June.

Police are appealing for help in finding a local man. Kieran Finn, aged 28, has links to Chard and Crewkerne and is suspected of breaching his bail conditions. Police say Finn has a swallow tattoo on his neck and a heart tattoo on his fingers. They asked anyone who knows his whereabouts to call 999.

Plans for a 70-bed care home in Chard have been submitted to South Somerset District Council. A number of buildings in East Street would be demolished to make way for the new care home.

A proposal by the government to force eating places to advertise calorie counts on menus has been described as a bad idea by a local eating disorder charity. The plan was one of a number of new laws put forward in the Queen's Speech to help tackle the problem of obesity.

Six horses have been stolen in Bower Hinton. The animals were taken from a field in Hills Lane on Saturday, 15th May. If you live in the areas and saw the animals being loaded onto a trailer, you’re asked to call the police non-emergency number 101.

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.