Monday 10th February

Monday, 10 February 2025 06:00

By Steve Haigh

Photo shows RSPCA Inspector Kim Walters who found Daisy

A dog, stolen in Norfolk seven years ago, has been found 200 miles away safe and well in Somerset. A man who lives in Seavington St Michael near Ilminster has been jailed after driving a car at police officers. One hundred new affordable homes could be built near Langport...and more

A dog stolen in Norfolk seven years ago has been found 200 miles away, safe and well, in Somerset. Daisy, the Labrador, was identified by an RSPCA inspector through her microchip. Her owner, Rita Potter, aged 80, says she'd kept a photograph of Daisy on her wall and never gave up hope of finding her.

A man who lives in Seavington St Michael near Ilminster has been jailed after driving a car at police officers and ramming the car into police vehicles. It happened when police attended Matthew Reyland's property to carry out unrelated enquiries into a missing person. No one was injured in the incident when the 38-year-old tried to flee the scene in his car. Appearing at Taunton Crown Court, Reyland was given a 16-month prison sentence and a three-year driving ban, after pleading guilty to multiple offences.

The Lib Dem MP for Glastonbury and Somerton, Sarah Dyke, is calling on the government to act decisively to minimise the flood risk in her constituency. Speaking in the House of Commons, Ms Dyke, said she was worried about farms being flooded and the impact on food security. She said the government needed to do more to ensure a flood management plan was in place to protect farms.

One hundred new affordable homes could be built near Langport if a revised planning application is approved. Social housing provider, Abri, wants to build the properties on Somerton Road in Huish Episcopi with 56 of the homes offered for rent to local people and 44 sold on the basis of shared ownership.

Somerset Council has been given half a million pounds by the government to plant 700 trees in open spaces across the County including in Castle Cary and Yeovil. The fruit and non-native varieties already stand three meters tall.

A Somerset charity is inviting people to get involved in its Earn a Bike scheme. ‘On Your Bike’ runs a course where participants strip down and rebuild a donated second-hand bicycle, and then get to keep the bike at the end of the course.

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