Thursday 27th March

Thursday, 27 March 2025 06:00

By Steve Haigh

Yeovil MP Adam Dance has criticised the Chancellor for not reforming business rates in her Spring Statement. Fifteen schools in Somerset are to be equipped with new facilities for children with special educational needs. A charity in Yeovil is appealing for donations of new underwear to give to people who are homeless...and more

Yeovil MP Adam Dance has criticised the Chancellor for not reforming business rates in her Spring Statement. Speaking in the Commons, he said Rachel Reeves had missed an opportunity to help hard-pressed businesses and, in particular, high street retailers. Mr Dance also hit out at the Chancellor for not scrapping the increase in employers’ national insurance contributions and reversing the family farm tax. He said rather than targeting businesses, the government should raise revenue by taxing big banks, social media giants, and online gambling companies.

Fifteen schools in Somerset are to be equipped with new facilities to cater for children with special educational needs and disabilities. The new SEND units are a response to specialist schools operating at full capacity, and a rise in the number of young people with special educational needs requiring places at state schools. The schools in our area to be equipped with new SEND units are: Maiden Beech Academy and Wadham School in Crewkerne, Reckleford Infant School and St. Michael's Academy in Yeovil, and Wincanton Primary School.

Somerset Council has launched a review into local government in Langport and Huish Episcopi. It follows a petition signed by people living in both local council areas, calling for Langport Town Council and Huish Episcopi Parish Council to be replaced by a single council. The review will start by consulting key stakeholders, including the local MP and elected local councillors. Final recommendations will be considered this autumn, with the decision implemented in April 2027.

People in Yeovil are being asked to have their say on plans to extend dog control measures in Ninesprings Country Park.
The measures, which include a dog exclusion zone as well as making owners keep their animals on leads in public places, are already in place but expire at the end of June. Somerset Council wants to extend the existing Public Space Protection Orders by three years and has started a public consultation that runs until the 5th May.

A charity in Yeovil is appealing for donations of new underwear. The Roost, based at The Gateway in Adlewell Lane, is asking for items of underwear to give to people who are homeless in South Somerset.

A new High Sheriff has been appointed to the role in Somerset. Janet Montgomery takes over from Rob Beckley, who has completed his one-year term of office.

More from News

Monday 16th June

The new owner of Yeovil Town says he’s in talks with Somerset Council about buying back Huish Park. Water levels at some of Somerset’s reservoirs are below what they should be for this time of year. A Chard woman has been recognised in the King's Birthday Honours... and more.
Friday 13th June

Police are appealing for witnesses to a road traffic accident near Chard, which left one person with life-threatening injuries. Texas Rocks in Middle Street, Yeovil, has closed temporarily following a significant fire. A Yeovil dental hygienist has been named as a finalist in the Ms Great Britain competition...and more.
Thursday 12th June

Yeovil MP Adam Dance has criticised the Chancellor’s Spending Review for not delivering real change for Yeovil and South Somerset. The CEO of Leonardo UK states that they’re working towards closing the gender pay gap within the company. Yeovil Town is relocating its first-team training camp to Bristol... and more.
Wednesday 11th June

People in Somerset are being asked for their views on the state of the county’s roads and footpaths. A trial is being conducted at Yeovil Hospital to investigate whether administering shorter courses of antibiotics to patients can effectively treat sepsis. Somerset Council says it has no plans to reopen a block of public toilets in Chard...and more.
Tuesday 10th June

A mother from Chard says schools need to do more to identify students with dyslexia. A fire in a van that caught alight at Stoke-sub-Hamdon is being treated as accidental. A former Yeovil-based police officer, who made it appear he was working when he wasn’t, has been barred from policing...and more
Monday 9th June

Somerset Council is giving £1.5m to Hill View Special School at Ash near Martock to prevent it from closing. Two men have been convicted of killing a Yeovil man they mistakenly believed to be a convicted paedophile. People across Somerset are being asked to make a note of any wildlife they see...and more
Friday 6th June

Community Speedwatch volunteers in Keinton Mandeville have stopped monitoring the local traffic because of online and verbal abuse. Redstart Primary School in Chard has been rated as ‘Good’ by Ofsted. A care home resident in Glastonbury has raised more than one thousand pounds for Children's Hospice Southwest by knitting soft toys...and more.
Thursday 5th June

Yeovil MP Adam Dance says he’s been told the temporary closure of the maternity unit at Yeovil Hospital will not be made permanent. Firefighters have dealt with a fire on a coach carrying passengers at Vagg Hill in Yeovil. The authorities in Chile are holding a man who lives in Milborne Port after being found with class-A drugs in a suitcase...and more.