Somerset Council has approved a seven-and-a-half percent increase in council tax. People are being asked to return boxes of paracetamol bought from Boots Chemists in Somerset. It’s been revealed that five members of staff at Somerset Council are being allowed to work from home outside the UK...and more
Somerset Council has approved a seven-and-a-half percent increase in council tax. This means a typical Band D property will pay an extra £129 a year in council tax from next month. The decision was taken at a full council meeting yesterday and follows the government permitting Somerset to break the five percent limit on council tax increases, introduced by the previous conservative government. Speaking at yesterday’s meeting, Lib Dem Leader of Somerset Council, Councillor Bill Revans, said the system of local government finance was "broken" but opposition Conservative leader, Councillor Mandy Chilcott claimed the council's budget for 2025/26 was "littered with red flags".
People are being asked to return boxes of paracetamol bought from Boots Chemists in Somerset. It's after a packaging mix up with the batch number 24-10-05. Boots says the tablets are paracetamol but the packaging is incorrectly labelled.
It’s been revealed that five members of staff at Somerset Council are being allowed to work from home outside the UK. Two are employed in the Council’s Legal Department, two in the adult social care department, and one is an Engineer in the Highways Department. A block on accessing Council’s computers from outside the UK has been lifted to allow the five staff members to work from overseas.
A heritage railway in Somerset is looking for new volunteers. The East Somerset Railway, near Shepton Mallet, is holding an open day this weekend in the hope of signing up new recruits.
Ilminster and District Men's Skittles League has presented a cheque for £555 to the Beacon Cancer Centre at Musgrove Park Hospital. Last year, the league donated over £2,000 to the Beacon Centre and Cancer Research UK.
Numatic International Ltd in Chard has been given planning permission to build a giant solar farm off the A30 Crewkerne Road. The RSPCA says incidents of dropped litter impacting the lives of animals in Somerset is a growing problem. Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance is marking 25 years of saving lives across the two counties...and more
Leonardo in Yeovil is developing a new type of self-flying helicopter. A report into the creation of Somerset Council has found the case for it to be 'weak' and marked by 'poor decision making'. The village of Montecute has been told that it may have one of the country's oldest working clocks...and more.
There has been a further delay to reopening Yeovil’s Octagon Theatre. Police are appealing for witnesses to an accident in Wincanton in which a motorcyclist was killed. A debt advice charity in Somerset is recruiting more volunteers to help with an expected increase in people going into debt...and more.
A new report says survival rates from ovarian cancer in Somerset are among the best in England. Farmers say it’s only a matter of time before someone is killed due to criminal gangs using farmland for illegal hare coursing. A Victorian chemist shop, originally situated on the High Street in South Petherton, is being moved to a theme park in County Durham...and more
Police are appealing for witnesses to a ‘hit and run’ in Henstridge in which an 8-year-old boy was knocked off his scooter. People in Somerset wanting to hold street parties to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day won't have to pay for a road closure. Plans have been submitted to open a new farm shop in Sherborne...and more
A Yeovil woman, whose disappearance three weeks ago sparked a big police search, has been found safe and well. A new 3.2 million pound programme of flood risk reduction works has been approved by the Somerset Rivers Authority. Sexey’s School in Bruton has been voted Somerset’s happiest secondary school...and more
Four Somerset businesses, including one in Yeovil, have been handed a total of £170,000 in civil penalties for employing illegal workers. National garage chain ATS Euromaster has closed its branch in Wincanton. A farmer in Wincanton is being hailed as a hero after rescuing his pigs from a burning barn...and more
A new campaign has been launched to persuade people in Somerset to stop smoking. Four people have been arrested in Chard in connection with the supply of Class A drugs. A dog from Yeovil has won the title of ‘best in breed’ at Crufts...and more.