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.

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