Thursday 8th February

Thursday, 8 February 2024 06:00

By Steve Haigh

Bus users have started a campaign to stop the closure of four major bus routes in Somerset. Plans to upgrade the Yeovil Crematorium have been put on hold indefinitely. Police in Chard have confiscated a car found abandoned at the roadside with cloned number plates, no insurance and no road tax...and more.

Bus users in Somerset have started a campaign to stop the closure of four major bus routes. One of the routes is the number 58A which runs from Yeovil to Wincanton through Sherborne, Milborne Port, and Henstridge. Somerset Council, which subsidises the routes say they can no longer afford the subsidise them, due to making savings of £100 million to avoid the Council going bust.

Plans to upgrade the Yeovil Crematorium on Bunford Lane have been put on hold indefinitely. South Somerset District Council had allocated £5.9 million for the upgrade but Somerset Council, who took over running Yeovil crematorium when SSDC was disbanded, say the scheme is no longer affordable. Somerset Council which needs to cut spending by £100 million to avoid bankruptcy says the project has been removed from Council’s capital programme, removing the need for £3.6 million of external borrowing.

A new Enterprise Centre has opened in Chard. Provided by Somerset Council at a cost of £4.2 million and based on Beeching Close, the Centre offers flexible office and light industrial workspaces to support small and medium enterprises.

Vans will be used to provide mobile dental surgeries across Somerset. It is part of the Government's new dental recovery plan, which ministers say will deliver one and a half million extra appointments to help ease a shortage of NHS care.

Police are appealing for witnesses or dashcam footage of an accident in Yeovil. It happened on Monday at the top of Hendford Hill by the Quicksilver roundabout when a black Jeep collided with two signposts. The driver was treated at the scene and taken to hospital where he later died. If you can help the police then please call the non-emergency number 101

Police in Chard have confiscated a car, found abandoned at the roadside with cloned number plates, no insurance and no road tax.

More from News

Friday 27 March

There's been a big improvement in ambulance response times in Somerset. Three local people have been charged with offences linked to the theft and supply of prescription-only drugs. A fragment of a jawbone found in a cave in Cheddar Gorge appears to show that humans kept dogs as pets as far back as 5,000 years ago... and more
Thursday 26th March

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.
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