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.

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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
Thursday 16th May

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.
Wednesday 15th May

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
Tuesday 14th May

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.
Monday 13th May

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.
Friday 10th May

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.
Thursday 9th May

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.
Wednesday 8th May

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