Monday 3rd August

Monday, 3 August 2026 06:00

By Steve Haigh

A yellow Heat Health Alert is in force across Somerset today. The swimming and leisure centre in Street remains closed following last Thursday's flooding in the plant room. Plans for a new primary school in Chard have been delayed until at least 2030... and more

A yellow Heat Health Alert is in force across Somerset today. The warning means there's an increased risk to vulnerable people, including the elderly, with health and social care services also expected to come under additional pressure.

The swimming and leisure centre in Street remains closed following last Thursday's flooding in the plant room. Freedom Leisure says electrical contractors are due on site today, with the centre expected to reopen later this week.

Plans for a new primary school in Chard have been delayed until at least 2030. Somerset Council had hoped the school, on the Holyrood Academy site, would open by September 2027. The authority says rising construction costs, falling birth rates and delays to new housing developments have forced the project back.

A member of staff at Crispin School in Street has been dismissed after being filmed making comments about Black and Asian pupils during an anti-immigration protest in Taunton. Wessex Learning Trust says the remarks do not reflect the school's values and confirmed the woman will not be returning in September.

Somerset Council will spend just over twenty-three million pounds on parking enforcement over the next eight years. The new contract follows the expiry of the authority's previous agreement and is intended to ensure enforcement continues without disruption.

A Tintinhull man has been banned from driving for three years after admitting drink and drug driving. Thirty-year-old Dale James Campbell, of Bearley Lane, was stopped by police in Yeovil after his vehicle was found to have no insurance or MOT. He was also fined eight hundred pounds and ordered to pay four hundred pounds in court costs.

The Gateway café at Yeovil Community Church has applied for a licence to serve alcohol from eleven in the morning until eleven at night, seven days a week. Somerset Council is inviting representations before making a decision.

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Friday 31st July

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service says July has been its busiest month ever for emergency calls. Police have recovered a 1970s Austin Mini pick-up stolen in Shepton Mallet. A specialist spinal injuries service at Yeovil Hospital has treated three hundred patients in its first year... and more
Thursday 30th July

The Environment Agency has declared a drought across Somerset as the hot weather takes its toll on the county's water supplies. Police are appealing for witnesses following a fatal road traffic accident near Crewkerne. A bowls player from Yeovil has won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow...and more
Wednesday 29th July

Police have arrested two suspects in connection with a series of moped thefts in Chard. A combine harvester has been destroyed in a farm fire at Forton, near Chard. A bowls player from Yeovil has won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow... and more
Tuesday 28th July

The former Beales department store in Yeovil could be brought back into use as part of a wider masterplan for the future of the town. A yellow heat health alert is in place across Somerset from nine o’clock this morning until nine o’clock on Friday morning. A Somerset farmer says this year is the driest on his land since 1976... and more
Monday 27th July

Gooch and Housego, based in Ilminster and one of the town’s biggest employers, has been sold in a multi-million-pound deal to an American private equity firm. A father who shook his four-week-old baby to death at a house in Chard has been sentenced to life in prison. A doctor who works for the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance is one of five people to have jointly set a new world record for rowing around Great Britain... and more
Friday 24th July

Avon and Somerset Police are warning people to watch out for scammers posing as Amazon. The CEO of the company that provides Somerset's recycling is warning of a major incident if people continue to put used batteries in waste bins. A former Yeovil pub could be demolished to make way for a major hotel expansion.
Thursday 23rd July

The West Country is officially one step closer to being declared in drought. Somerset Council says it's remodelling its service after a children's home was closed following an inspection. A new McDonald's planned off the M5 at Bridgwater could create up to 120 local jobs... and more
Wednesday 22nd July

Two men have been jailed for stealing electrical items and cash from a property in Yeovil. Somerset Council has defended its use of Yeovil’s new performance area in The Triangle, in Lower Middle Street. Tintinhull Primary School, near Yeovil, has won a top national award for outdoor play... and more