Monday 30th March

Monday, 30 March 2026 06:00

By Steve Haigh

Avon and Somerset Police say its armed officers attended 2,700 incidents in Somerset last year. Plans have been submitted to build 40 new homes in Curry Rivel. South Western Ambulance is offering free CPR and defibrillator training to help improve cardiac arrest survival rates...and more

Avon and Somerset Police say its armed officers attended 2,700 incidents in Somerset last year. New data shows that, on average, there were 231 incidents a month attended by firearms officers in Somerset in 2025. The data does not equate to the number of incidents in which firearms were used or involved.

Plans have been submitted to build 40 new homes off Maple Road in Curry Rivel. Fourteen of the homes will be affordable, meeting Somerset Council's target of 35 per cent affordable housing for any new development of ten homes or more. Somerset Council is expected to make a decision on the application within the next six months.

Eight hundred thousand pounds is being spent dredging rivers in Somerset to prevent flooding. Somerset Rivers Authority says it is also spending one hundred thousand pounds on removing vegetation from the River Isle near Donyatt to prevent flooding on the A358.

Over the Easter weekend, a stretch of track on the West of England Rail Line through Somerset will be closed for rail replacement works. From Friday, April 3rd, to Monday, April 6th, trains from London Waterloo to Exeter St Davids will terminate at Yeovil Junction. Buses will replace trains to Crewkerne, Axminster, Honiton and Exeter St Davids.

South Western Ambulance is offering free CPR and defibrillator training to help improve cardiac arrest survival rates. Data shows that only one in ten people survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, a statistic the ambulance service believes can be improved through community education. Organisations interested in hosting a session should visit the South Western Ambulance website to make a booking.

The Mendip Hills National Landscape is offering young people the chance to become Young Rangers. Volunteers will take part in activities each month, including navigation skills, conservation tasks and dry-stone walling.

More from News

Friday 27 March

There's been a big improvement in ambulance response times in Somerset. Three local people have been charged with offences linked to the theft and supply of prescription-only drugs. A fragment of a jawbone found in a cave in Cheddar Gorge appears to show that humans kept dogs as pets as far back as 5,000 years ago... and more
Thursday 26th March

Somerset Council is offering food vouchers during the school easter holidays to families whose children receive free school meals. A local man has been charged in connection with an incident involving a firearm in Yeovil. The Environment Agency says it could take up to 10 years to protect homes at Holway House Park and Home Farm Park in Ilminster from flooding...and more.
Wednesday 25th March

Yeovil MP Adam Dance has raised concerns in the House of Commons about the planned closure of Yeovil Hospital’s hyper-acute stroke unit. Police in Yeovil are appealing for information after a man was arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm. A 13-year-old terrier named Mole has been rescued after becoming trapped underground...and more
Tuesday 24th March

Yeovil College has received a glowing report following an Ofsted inspection. The main road between Chard and Ilminster is to be better protected from flooding. A six-thousand-year-old wooden walkway has been uncovered on the Somerset Levels... and more
Monday 23rd March

A wildcat helicopter belonging 815 Squadron based at RNAS Yeovilton has been in action tracking two Russian ships in the English Channel. People living in Somerset will have to pay to use Dorset’s household waste recycling centres from today. A road in Ilminster has closed to traffic today and will stay shut for the next ten days... and more
Friday 20th March

Police are appealing for witnesses to a three-vehicle crash in Sherborne. The jobs of housing maintenance staff at Somerset Council could be outsourced to a private contractor. A pie throwing event is taking place in Chard today for Red Nose Day ... and more
Thursday 19th March

Farmers in Somerset say they're struggling after a doubling in the price of red diesel. Yeovil MP Adam Dance has criticised Donald Trump over his comments about people with learning disabilities. A Somerset woman whose father was killed in a crash on the M5 is running the London Marathon to raise money for South West Ambulance...and more
Wednesday 18th March

The murder of a two-week-old baby by his father at Yeovil Hospital could not have been predicted, according to a new report. A road in Ilminster is to close to traffic for eleven days later this month. A new Post Office counter is to open in Somerton... and more