Local News Wednesday 20th July

Wednesday, 20 July 2022 06:00

Plans to build thirty-one new homes next to Wincanton Community Hospital in Wincanton have been approved. The A30 between Yeovil and Crewkerne will close overnight next week for work to be completed on a damaged wall. A full meeting of Somerset County Council is taking place in Yeovil today. A Chard woman has won her fight to have an overgrown footpath cleared...and more.

Plans to build thirty-one new homes next to Wincanton Community Hospital in Wincanton have been approved. The development off Dancing Lane will include seven affordable homes. Dancing Lane will be the only entrance and exit for the development, with no linking footpath to Verrington Lane or the nearby Cale Way estate.

The A30 between Yeovil and Crewkerne will close overnight next week for work to be completed on a damaged wall. Work started in early February on the construction of a new supporting wall at Haselbury Plucknett. The scheme was due to be completed within thirteen weeks but was extended after damage to the wall was found to be worse than thought. Somerset County Council says the A30 will shut overnight for five days, from July 25th to the 29th, to ensure all remaining work is completed.

A full meeting of Somerset County Council is taking place in Yeovil today (July 20). It’s being held at the Westlands Entertainment Venue with all one hundred and ten members of the Council in attendance and is open to the public. The meeting will endorse the appointment of Duncan Sharkey as the new Chief Executive of Somerset County Council. Mr Sharkey, who’s currently Chief Executive of Windsor and Maidenhead Council, will head-up the new Somerset unitary council when that comes into being in April next year.

A Chard woman has won her fight to have an overgrown footpath cleared. The path that runs alongside the A358 and provides an important link between Chard and Tatworth, has been out of use for three years. Now, following a campaign by Jill White, Somerset County Council has promised to have the path cleared and accessible by the end of the month.

A Chard man has appeard in court charged with stealing alcohol. Joshua Miller of Beckington Crescent pleaded guilty to theft from the Tesco store in Chard when he appeared before magistrates in Yeovil. Miller was given a twelve month conditional discharge and told to pay Tesco compensation of two hundred and five pounds.

A former Royal Marine based at RNAS Yeovilton has been presented with a national award for building houses. Tom Jupp was selected out of over four hundred other building site managers to win ‘The Quality Award’. Tom says he learnt his leadership skills through being a member of the Royal Marines.

More from News

Monday 16th March

Drivers are being told that it could take several more weeks yet before Hendford Hill in Yeovil reopens to traffic. A new bus service between Glastonbury and Castle Cary railway station is to start on a trial basis. Children in Chard are being given free reading books as part of a scheme founded by Dolly Parton... and more
Friday 13th March

The first of the new medium lift helicopters being built by Leonardo in Yeovil for the RAF will be delivered in 2031. Somerset Council has launched a public consultation on planned new charges at its two hundred public car parks. More women in Somerset are said to be taking up walking football... and more
Thursday 12th March

A Yeovil headteacher says he’s concerned about plans to stop giving school holiday food vouchers to families on low incomes. The owner of Yeovil Town is calling on fans to be patient as he continues his overhaul of the National League side. A high voltage fault is being blamed for plunging 1700 homes into darkness in the Ilminster area... and more
Wednesday 11th March

Plans have been submitted to convert two properties in Yeovil into houses of multiple occupation. A new court date has been announced for a Yeovil man charged with attempted murder. An engineer who has worked at the Leonardo factory in Yeovil for 40-years has won a top industry award... and more
Tuesday 10th March

Police say a fire at the former Oscar Mayer food factory in Chard was started deliberately. Yeovil College says it would have been adversely affected had Leonardo not won the contract to build new medium-lift helicopters. A seven-foot dragon will be visiting towns and villages in our area during the next few weeks to promote Somerset Day... and more
Monday 9th March

Two Wildcat helicopters from 815 Squadron at RNAS Yeovilton have arrived in Cyprus to help protect RAF Akrotiri from further Iranian drone strikes. New figures show that 40 people were killed on Avon and Somerset’s roads in the last 12-months. A Somerset man has been recalling the day 60-years ago when he was a passenger on the last train on the Somerset and Dorset Railway... and more
Friday 6th March

Defence Minister Luke Pollard has been explaining why it took the government so long to confirm a contract for the Leonardo in Yeovil to build new medium lift helicopters for the RAF. Police are investigating a break in at a pet shop in Ilminster. Somerset Council is to stop using red ink on council tax reminder letters... and more
Thursday 5th March

Two military helicopters from RNAS Yeovilton are being sent to Cyprus to help bolster UK’s defences amid the US-Israel war with Iran. Yeovil Town Council is seeking legal advice over the closure of the hyper acute stroke unit at Yeovil Hospital. Flood warnings have been lifted on the Somerset Levels... and more