Leonardo helicopters in Yeovil has announced a new £360 million contract to deliver support to the UK’s fleet of Navy and Army Wildcat helicopters. Somerset has failed to secure millions of pounds of investment for local bus services. Plans have been submitted to convert a former restaurant in Yeovil into flats. Higher prices are on the way at your local chippy and Glastonbury has been named the best music festival in the UK and the second-best in the world.
Leonardo helicopters in Yeovil has announced a new £360 million contract to deliver support to the UK’s fleet of Navy and Army Wildcat helicopters. The order has secured 340 industry jobs for the next five years and boosted the Yeovil factory. Meanwhile, Leonardo says it’s still awaiting a decision on the contract to supply its AW 149 as a new medium-lift helicopter to the British military. Managing Director of Leonardo in Yeovil Nick Whitney says it’s an order they have to win.
Somerset has failed to secure millions of pounds of investment for local bus services. The County Council’s been told that it will get £11 million of the £163 million that it had asked for. The government says the money will make buses run more frequently and make fares more affordable.
Plans have been submitted to convert a former restaurant in Yeovil into flats. If the application is approved by South Somerset District Council the first and second floors above the former Amrit Indian restaurant on the corner of South Western Terrace and Middle Street would be turned into five flats.
Higher prices are on the way at your local chippy. With the price of potatoes, fish and energy all going up, a bag of fish and chips is costing more. The manager of Whites fish and chip shop in Chard, Estella Neal, says it getting harder to make a profit out of selling fish and chips.
Glastonbury has been named the best music festival in the UK and the second-best in the world. The online gaming site, Slingo, analysed fifty festivals and put Glastonbury well ahead of the Parklife, Boomtown, and Reading festivals both in terms of performers and location.
Bird flu has been found at a nature reserve in Somerset, closing part of it down. St Margaret’s Hospice in Somerset is calling for the hospice sector to be given more central funding. The Barrington Boar in Barrington has been placed 12th in The Good Food Guide’s list of 100 best pubs in Britain... and more
Police are investigating a suspected arson attack on a mobile home near Yeovil. Somerset Council is suggesting people turn their pumpkins into soup this Halloween. People in Yeovil have until Sunday to comment on controversial plans to sell off four car parks in the town centre... and more.
Plans have been submitted to build 12 new homes in Chard. A nursery in Yeovil has been rated ‘overall good' by Ofsted. A Somerset mortgage broker has achieved national recognition. A stretch of the M5 at Wellington will be shut every night this week...and more
The Unite union has announced four days of strikes by its members at Leonardo in Yeovil. One of Yeovil’s busiest roads is closed to traffic today. Staff at the Ferne Animal Sanctuary near Chard raised £3,000 taking part in a Sleeping Ruff challenge at the weekend...and more
New figures show that 500 young people were either injured or killed on roads in Somerset and Devon last year. The Old School Community Centre in Queen Camel has reopened, thanks to a donation of £10,000 from Somerset Freemasons. Two Fleet Air Arm engineers based at RNAS Yeovilton have recreated a family moment from 26 years ago...and more
Yeovil-born actress Sarah Parish is supporting efforts to reopen the Octagon theatre. Mobility scooter campaigners in Somerset have welcomed a government review of the legislation governing the use of mobility scooters on public highways. Changes are being made to the dates when garden waste is collected in Somerset...and more
A major house builder in the South West says government targets for new house building in Somerset are 'unrealistic'. Pizza Hut is closing its restaurant in Yeovil. Staff at the Ferne Animal Sanctuary near Chard will be taking part in a ‘Sleeping Ruff’ challenge tomorrow...and more
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Reckleford in Yeovil is to shut for 15 days for essential drainage works. Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has paid out compensation of £23 million for claims related to birth injuries. A Grade II listed building in Glastonbury has been converted into a health and wellbeing centre...and more