Thursday 21st May

Thursday, 21 May 2026 06:00

By Steve Haigh

Police are being asked to cut the time the M5 is closed following accidents. Plans to build a major solar farm near Chard have been thrown out. Aldi is asking shoppers to help find locations for new stores in Somerset...and more

Avon and Somerset Police says it’s doing all it can to reduce the amount of time the M5 is closed following serious accidents. The force says motorway incidents are often highly complex and require thorough investigation work, with the average closure currently lasting around four-and-a-quarter hours. The comments come after Somerset Council called on both National Highways and the police to improve the situation and minimise disruption for drivers.

Plans for a major solar farm near Chard have been thrown out following a public inquiry. Greentech Invest UK Limited had proposed building the development off Chard Lane in Wayford. The site would have covered around sixty-four acres and generated enough electricity to power an estimated four-thousand-seven-hundred homes over the next forty years. But planning inspector John Longmuir has ruled the project should not go ahead, saying it would have an intrusive impact on the protected surrounding countryside.

A man from Donyatt has been sentenced after punching a woman, assaulting two police officers, and directing racist abuse towards them. Twenty-eight-year-old Liam Watson, of Donyatt Hill, admitted the offences at an earlier hearing in Yeovil. At Taunton Magistrates’ Court he was fined seven-hundred pounds, handed a twelve-month community order, and ordered to pay one-hundred pounds compensation to each victim.

A Yeovil councillor has stepped down from Somerset Council’s executive committee. Graham Oakes, who representes Yeovil East and held responsibility for public health, climate change and the environment, says his decision was taken for non-political reasons. His duties have been passed to Councillor Evie Potts-Jones, who represents Yeovil West.

Aldi is asking shoppers in Somerset to help identify potential locations for new stores. The supermarket says it’s investing more than three-hundred-and-seventy million pounds in expansion this year as part of plans to grow to fifteen-hundred stores across the UK. Aldi says suggested locations in Somerset will be reviewed as part of its nationwide search for new sites.

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