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.

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Wednesday 29th October

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Tuesday 28th October

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
Monday 27th October

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
Friday 24th October

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
Thursday 23rd October

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
Wednesday 22nd October

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 .