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

Wednesday 22nd April

Expectant mothers are using Yeovil Hospital once again to give birth following the reopening of the maternity unit. A Yeovil man has been jailed for four years for committing sexual offences against two young girls. Plans have been approved to convert a pub in Milborne Port into housing... and more
Tuesday 21st April

NHS Somerset has delayed closing the hyper-acute stroke unit at Yeovil Hospital. A former Avon and Somerset Police officer has been jailed for making indecent images of children. A Somerset man has been fined after pleading guilty to hunting a wild animal with dogs... and more
Monday 20th April

Nearly one hundred roads in Somerset will be surface dressed this summer to prevent further damage. Almost all children starting primary school in Somerset in September have been offered a place at one of their top three school choices. People in Somerset are being asked to record wild mammals in gardens and other green spaces over the summer... and more
Friday 17th April

Yeovil MP Adam Dance has backed calls for a cap on heating oil prices. Invitations are being sent out to those in Somerset eligible for the latest Covid vaccine. A pub near Chard has closed just four months after reopening... and more
Thursday 16th April

Wessex Water has been told to pay £300,000 after a sewer spilled into the River Yeo killing dozens of fish. The Brewhouse Theatre in Taunton has been given a grant of half a million pounds. Today marks the official opening of the new visitor centre at Ham Hill... and more
Wednesday 15th April

Yeovil College has been upgraded to a Defence Technical Excellence College. Somerset Council is taking legal action against a housing developer that owes £35,000 in contributions towards local services in Broadway. An Ilminster couple have covered the first 400 miles of their epic walk around the coastline of mainland Britain... and more
Tuesday 14th April

Avon and Somerset Police has launched a new five-year plan to tackle anti-social behaviour. Additional GP appointments will soon be available at three local surgeries, following a £1 million investment to upgrade NHS facilities in Somerset. A Stoke-sub-Hamdon couple whose daughter died of cancer have raised £128,000 in her memory... and more
Monday 13th April

Yeovil MP Adam Dance is calling for better support for survivors of domestic abuse living in rural communities. The RSPB in Somerset is urging people to stop feeding birds to prevent the spread of disease. Yeovil Town Football Club says an issue that had threatened it with removal from the register at Companies House has been resolved... and more