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.
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service says July has been its busiest month ever for emergency calls. Police have recovered a 1970s Austin Mini pick-up stolen in Shepton Mallet. A specialist spinal injuries service at Yeovil Hospital has treated three hundred patients in its first year... and more
The Environment Agency has declared a drought across Somerset as the hot weather takes its toll on the county's water supplies. Police are appealing for witnesses following a fatal road traffic accident near Crewkerne. A bowls player from Yeovil has won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow...and more
Police have arrested two suspects in connection with a series of moped thefts in Chard. A combine harvester has been destroyed in a farm fire at Forton, near Chard. A bowls player from Yeovil has won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow... and more
The former Beales department store in Yeovil could be brought back into use as part of a wider masterplan for the future of the town. A yellow heat health alert is in place across Somerset from nine o’clock this morning until nine o’clock on Friday morning. A Somerset farmer says this year is the driest on his land since 1976... and more
Gooch and Housego, based in Ilminster and one of the town’s biggest employers, has been sold in a multi-million-pound deal to an American private equity firm. A father who shook his four-week-old baby to death at a house in Chard has been sentenced to life in prison. A doctor who works for the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance is one of five people to have jointly set a new world record for rowing around Great Britain... and more
Avon and Somerset Police are warning people to watch out for scammers posing as Amazon. The CEO of the company that provides Somerset's recycling is warning of a major incident if people continue to put used batteries in waste bins. A former Yeovil pub could be demolished to make way for a major hotel expansion.
The West Country is officially one step closer to being declared in drought. Somerset Council says it's remodelling its service after a children's home was closed following an inspection. A new McDonald's planned off the M5 at Bridgwater could create up to 120 local jobs... and more
Two men have been jailed for stealing electrical items and cash from a property in Yeovil. Somerset Council has defended its use of Yeovil’s new performance area in The Triangle, in Lower Middle Street. Tintinhull Primary School, near Yeovil, has won a top national award for outdoor play... and more