It’s hoped that businesses in Yeovil will benefit from a new £4 billion car battery-making factory being built near Bridgwater. A consultation is underway into plans to shut the Sunnymeade care home in Chard. Women in Wincanton are being offered free business training by the entrepreneur and PR guru Lynne Franks...and more.
It’s hoped that businesses in Yeovil will be amongst those in Somerset to benefit from the £4 billion being spent building a new car battery-making factory near Bridgwater. The facility alongside the M5 at Puritan will produce batteries for Jaguar Land Rover, creating 4,000 jobs and thousands more in the supply chain across the region. Agratas and Tata, two of India’s largest conglomerates, who are behind the venture, will occupy around half of the 616-acre Puritan site, with hotels, leisure, and office buildings on the other half.
A consultation is underway into a proposal to shut a residential care home in Chard. Somerset Care says Sunnymeade care home is no longer financially viable and they want to close it in April. Somerset Council’s Adult Social Care Team is independently assessing the care needs of the residents, with staff at the home put at risk of redundancy.
Police are investigating a break-in at a property in Sandford Orcas near Sherborne. It happened on Saturday, February 17th at around 4 pm. Police say the suspects were disturbed by a neighbour and that nothing was taken. They’re asking people in Sandford Orcas to check CCTV and door cameras for footage of anyone acting suspiciously. If you can help, you’re asked to please call the non-emergency number 101.
Holyrood Academy in Chard has come to the aid of a local karate club whose premises were destroyed in a fire. Chard Tae Kwon-do Club lost its training base in last weekend’s major blaze in Leach Road. Members have been told they can hold their training sessions at Holyrood Academy until further notice.
Women in Wincanton wanting to start their own business are being offered free training by entrepreneur and PR guru Lynne Franks. Lynne, who lives in Wincanton, has worked with major corporates including McDonald’s, Tesco and HSBC and says the course is aimed at helping women identify their strengths and talents, to set up a business or work collaboratively with others on a new business venture.
A new website has been launched to support people in Somerset with mental health issues. One of Yeovil’s oldest pubs has been sold. Artwork on the theme of aviation produced by students at Yeovil College has gone on display at Leonardo Helicopters in Yeovil.A pupil at Tatworth Primary School near Chard has won a prize in a national competition for writing a book review...and more
Work laying a gas main on the A37 Dorchester Road near the Quicksilver Mail roundabout in Yeovil is to continue for a further two months. Somerset Council says the public toilets in Yeovil bus station will close at the end of the month but the waiting room will stay open temporarily. Former Yeovil Town Captain, Josh Staunton, has set up in business as a professional gardener...and more.
Somerset Council seeking to save £40 million by cutting one thousand jobs says 201 employees have so far applied to leave the authority based on voluntary redundancy. East Somerset Railway near Shepton Mallet has been used for filming the TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper's novel Rivals. An old-style red phone box in Castle Cary is being turned into Somerset's smallest museum...and more
Somerset's Chief Medical Officer says GP surgeries using healthcare professionals alongside doctors to provide treatments has freed up GP appointments. A farmer has been fined £15,000 for polluting a household water supply. Avon and Somerset’s new Police and Crime Commissioner has officially started work in the role. Chard Post Office is closed today for the handover of the business to new owners...and more.
Health inspectors have criticised Somerset's maternity services, including those at Yeovil Hospital. Somerset Council says re-opening Yeovil’s Octagon Theatre in its original form could cost up to £200,000 if a multi-million-pound upgrade of the building falls through. A film made by a Yeovil man on a budget of just five thousand pounds was screened at the prestigious British Independent Film Festival...and more.
The Ferne Animal Sanctuary near Chard says it needs an immediate injection of £100,000 to keep going. Yeovil’s Marlie Packer has returned to Yeovil Rugby Club where she began her rugby career 20 years ago. Twenty-five Town criers from across the South will be in Ilminster tomorrow competing in the annual Ilminster Town Criers' Competition...and more.
Train services through Somerset are again being disrupted today due to continued strike action by the train driver’s union ALSEF. A campaign has been launched in Somerset aimed at stopping people overdosing on opioids. A Somerset business is raising a smile with its name.‘Top Of The Clops’, a tack shop near Taunton has won a place in the top ten of the UK’s funniest business names...and more.
A woman driver has been told she faces a prison term for causing the deaths of two people in a crash on the A303. The AA says there are more potholes than ever on Somerset’s motorway network, leading to an increase in damage to vehicles. The new cancer treatment unit at Yeovil Hospital should be open before the end of the year...and more.
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