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

Monday 24th March

Numatic International Ltd in Chard has been given planning permission to build a giant solar farm off the A30 Crewkerne Road. The RSPCA says incidents of dropped litter impacting the lives of animals in Somerset is a growing problem. Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance is marking 25 years of saving lives across the two counties...and more
Friday 21st March

Leonardo in Yeovil is developing a new type of self-flying helicopter. A report into the creation of Somerset Council has found the case for it to be 'weak' and marked by 'poor decision making'. The village of Montecute has been told that it may have one of the country's oldest working clocks...and more.
Thursday 20th March

There has been a further delay to reopening Yeovil’s Octagon Theatre. Police are appealing for witnesses to an accident in Wincanton in which a motorcyclist was killed. A debt advice charity in Somerset is recruiting more volunteers to help with an expected increase in people going into debt...and more.
Wednesday 19th March

A new report says survival rates from ovarian cancer in Somerset are among the best in England. Farmers say it’s only a matter of time before someone is killed due to criminal gangs using farmland for illegal hare coursing. A Victorian chemist shop, originally situated on the High Street in South Petherton, is being moved to a theme park in County Durham...and more
Tuesday 18th March

Police are appealing for witnesses to a ‘hit and run’ in Henstridge in which an 8-year-old boy was knocked off his scooter. People in Somerset wanting to hold street parties to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day won't have to pay for a road closure. Plans have been submitted to open a new farm shop in Sherborne...and more
Monday 17th March

A Yeovil woman, whose disappearance three weeks ago sparked a big police search, has been found safe and well. A new 3.2 million pound programme of flood risk reduction works has been approved by the Somerset Rivers Authority. Sexey’s School in Bruton has been voted Somerset’s happiest secondary school...and more
Friday 14th March

Four Somerset businesses, including one in Yeovil, have been handed a total of £170,000 in civil penalties for employing illegal workers. National garage chain ATS Euromaster has closed its branch in Wincanton. A farmer in Wincanton is being hailed as a hero after rescuing his pigs from a burning barn...and more
Thursday 13th March

A new campaign has been launched to persuade people in Somerset to stop smoking. Four people have been arrested in Chard in connection with the supply of Class A drugs. A dog from Yeovil has won the title of ‘best in breed’ at Crufts...and more.