Local News Wednesday 8th March

Wednesday, 8 March 2023 06:00

A new hostel for homeless people is set to open in Yeovil. Homeowners in Chard are to be provided with water butts to help reduce the risk of the town flooding. Seven Avon and Somerset Police officers have been dismissed for inappropriate sexual contact since 2018. A Yeovil man, whose father died of prostate cancer, is planning to cycle from Land's End to John O'Groats to raise awareness of getting an early diagnosis for prostate cancer.....and more.

A new hostel for homeless people is set to open in Yeovil but South Somerset District Council, who are funding the project, won’t say where in the town the hostel is located. The new hostel will accommodate ten homeless and rough sleepers and replace the Pathways homeless lodge on Newton Road when it closes at the end of the month. South Somerset District Council is providing two-hundred-and-twenty thousand pounds towards the first year’s costs of nearly three-hundred-and-eighty thousand pounds of running the hostel.

Homeowners in Chard are to be provided with water butts to help reduce the risk of the town flooding. Around one thousand properties on Furnham Road and on the Glynswood estate when damaged when Chard flooded in 2021. Somerset Rivers Authority has allocated funds to buy water butts for homes across the town in the hope that it will reduce surface water.

Seven Avon and Somerset Police officers have been dismissed for inappropriate sexual contact since 2018. Data gathered by the Observer newspaper shows the force had the most incidents of this kind out of the twenty-two police forces in England and Wales who responded to their survey.

Yeovil MP Marcus Fysh has welcomed the government’s decision to provide more support to children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Investment in the SEND programme will rise to more ten billion pounds starting from April. Mr Fysh, who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Education, says the extra funds will be used to build new special schools and improve services to children with special needs and disabilities and their families.

A Yeovil man, whose father died of prostate cancer, is planning to cycle from Land's End to John O'Groats this summer in his memory. David Parish’s father Henry died following a late diagnosis. David believes if he’d gone to see his GP sooner, he might still be alive today. David will be joined by two friends, Sheldon Fling and Jonney Reay, raising awareness of prostate cancer and importance of an early diagnosis, along the 900-mile route.

More from News

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
Wednesday 4th March

A man has died in a fire in Wincanton. Somerset Council is planning further cuts of twenty-one million pounds to help balance its books. A campaign to raise £30,000 for a minibus has been launched in Chard... and more