Thursday 26th March

Thursday, 26 March 2026 05:00

By Steve Haigh

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.

Somerset Council and Citizens Advice are offering support to families worried about the cost of food during the Easter holidays. Families whose children receive free school meals can now apply for supermarket vouchers through the Somerset Citizens Advice website. It comes after Somerset Council ended a scheme giving all free school meal families vouchers every school holiday.

A local man has been charged in connection with an incident involving a firearm in Yeovil. William Martin, aged 38, is facing one count of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and a second count of possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. He was arrested after officers were called to Rosebery Avenue at around 2 pm on Monday following reports that a member of the public was carrying a suspected handgun. Officers said that while attempting to engage with a man in Monmouth Road, a short while later, a firearm was discharged by an officer. There were no injuries reported.

Protecting homes from further flooding at Holway House Park and Home Farm Park in Ilminster could take up to 10 years, according to the Environment Agency. Park homes on the sites off Station Road were flooded in October 2021. Repairs were carried out to a bund on Home Farm Way, which has proved successful in keeping floodwater away. But the Environment Agency says any further improvements may take up to 10 years due to the extensive modelling required to carry out the work and the need to secure government funding.

Somerset Council says one hundred new homes being built in Huish Episcopi will be affordable. The council has approved the plans, submitted by the housing association Abri, to build the properties off Somerton Road.

Blacklands Lane in Tatworth will be closed to traffic for one day next month. It’s to allow Openreach to carry out cabling works. The closure will be in effect from 9.30 am to 3.30 pm on Wednesday, 1st April.

More from News

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
Tuesday 17th March

The government is being asked to help fund Somerset's carnivals. Bridgwater Town Council wants more trains to stop at the town’s railway station. A fund raising pie throwing event is taking place for Red Nose Day in Chard... and more
Monday 16th March

Drivers are being told that it could take several more weeks yet before Hendford Hill in Yeovil reopens to traffic. A new bus service between Glastonbury and Castle Cary railway station is to start on a trial basis. Children in Chard are being given free reading books as part of a scheme founded by Dolly Parton... and more