Chard Town Council has voted to put up its share of the Council Tax by 45.2%. A new campaign has been launched to help tackle mental health issues in farming. Three school choirs in Yeovil have joined together to perform at the Royal Albert Hall in London...and more
Chard Town Council has voted to put up its share of the Council Tax by 45.2 per cent. The Town Council's precept on a typical Band D property will rise from £173.09 to £251.37. Chard Town Council says it needs the extra income to pay for services it plans to take on from Somerset Council, which is seeking cuts of £100 million to avoid the authority going bankrupt.
A new campaign’s been launched, including here in Somerset, to help tackle mental health issues in farming. Nine out of ten farmers aged under 40 in a survey said mental health was one of their biggest challenges. Now, the Farm Safety Foundation has launched ‘Mind Your Head', a campaign aimed at helping farmers.
Former Royal Marines from Somerset are among a group of 260 Marines seeking damages from the Ministry of Defence over a claim they were knowingly exposed to asbestos during a training exercise in Latvia. The legal action was brought after dust samples taken from buildings in Latvia in which they were accommodated were tested and turned out to contain asbestos.
Three school choirs in Yeovil are to perform at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The choirs will join together to perform songs in Latin from the seventeenth century.
Crewkerne Community Hospital is to lose half its inpatient beds. A review will be conducted of a project to make Bridgwater more pedestrian and cyclist-friendly. Chard Methodist Church is offering residents a free lunch on Christmas Day. Yeovil-based Screwfix is opening a new outlet in Minehead...and more.
Yeovil MP Adam Dance has warned that delays in ordering 30 new medium lift helicopters for the RAF is putting the future of Somerset’s defence industries at risk. Somerset's farmers are being urged to convert more cow manure into biogas to heat homes. A new visitor centre has opened at Ham Hill country park...and more
Parcel business, Evri, has been criticised by Glastonbury and Somerton MP Sarah Dyke over what she claims have been ‘widespread delivery failures’. Demand for mental health support provided by South Western Ambulance Service is running at record levels. A nine-year-old Somerset boy has completed 100 days of litter picking for charity...and more
New data shows that crime in the Avon and Somerset police area is at an all-time high. Ferne Animal Sanctuary near Chard has issued a warning to prospective pet owners ahead of Christmas. The owner of four pubs in Somerset has warned that many could be forced to shut unless the government reconsiders business rates...and more.
Toolstream in Yeovil has been put into administration, threatening the jobs of dozens of employees. NHS Somerset has issued a last chance call for people to get a flu jab after hospital admissions increased by 76% in a week. Police are investigating the theft of a bike valued at £7,000 in Sherborne... and more
The Chief Executive of Somerset Council, Duncan Sharkey, has admitted to making mistakes in cutting jobs. Yeovil MP Adam Dance is supporting a Lib Dem initiative to introduce a new ‘Farm First’ training scheme. Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance has launched an appeal to help buy a second helicopter... and more.
A man has appeared in court in connection with an attack in Wincanton. A member of Somerset Council, jailed for 26 months for taking part in a Just Stop Oil protest, may not have to stand down as a councillor. NHS Somerset has announced that changes to stroke services at Yeovil Hospital will "go live" in the spring of next year...and more
Avon and Somerset Police say 62 drivers were arrested in the first week of the Christmas drink and drug driving campaign. A reindeer farm near Yeovil thinks it may have to close after being told it needs a Zoo licence. Father Christmas has made a special delivery of presents to Charlton Farm Children's Hospice in Somerset...and more