Tuesday 7th April

Tuesday, 7 April 2026 06:00

By Steve Haigh

Somerset Council has set aside three hundred and seventy thousand pounds to keep open five leisure centres in the Mendip area. Watercombe Lane in Yeovil is set to close for thirty-one days for gas mains replacement works. It’s been announced that Martock will stage a Pride event in June...and more

Somerset Council has set aside three hundred and seventy thousand pounds to keep five leisure centres in the Mendip area open. It follows the announcement that Fusion Leisure, which operates centres in Wells, Glastonbury and Street, along with Shepton Mallet Lido, has gone into administration. Somerset Council owns sixteen leisure facilities, which are managed through contracts with various companies.

Watercombe Lane in Yeovil is set to close for thirty-one days for gas mains replacement works. The closure will affect a one hundred and sixteen metre stretch, from the junction with Preston Road to the junction with Westbourne Grove, from Monday April 13th until Wednesday May 13th. Meanwhile, a road in Montacute will close to traffic for five days later this month. Townsend will shut at its junction with Park View from Monday April 13th to Friday April 17th for Wessex Water to carry out repairs.

It’s been announced that Martock will stage a Pride event in June. Taking place on Saturday June 20th, it will be the second year the village has hosted the event, celebrating LGBTQ+ diversity and inclusion.

New data shows the crane population on the Somerset Levels has risen again. The Somerset’s Levels and Moors are part of an ongoing project to increase numbers. There are now eighty-seven breeding pairs of cranes, bringing the total population across the UK to around two hundred and fifty.

Family and friends of a boy from Ilminster, who is on a waiting list for a heart transplant, have raised four thousand pounds for the hospital treating him. Cameron Manning was born with a rare heart condition affecting his ventricles and heart valves. His family, along with a group of friends, held a charity bingo event at the Shrubbery Hotel in Ilminster, with all proceeds going to the Wallace and Gromit Children’s Unit at Bristol Children’s Hospital.

More from News

Wednesday 22nd April

Expectant mothers are using Yeovil Hospital once again to give birth following the reopening of the maternity unit. A Yeovil man has been jailed for four years for committing sexual offences against two young girls. Plans have been approved to convert a pub in Milborne Port into housing... and more
Tuesday 21st April

NHS Somerset has delayed closing the hyper-acute stroke unit at Yeovil Hospital. A former Avon and Somerset Police officer has been jailed for making indecent images of children. A Somerset man has been fined after pleading guilty to hunting a wild animal with dogs... and more
Monday 20th April

Nearly one hundred roads in Somerset will be surface dressed this summer to prevent further damage. Almost all children starting primary school in Somerset in September have been offered a place at one of their top three school choices. People in Somerset are being asked to record wild mammals in gardens and other green spaces over the summer... and more
Friday 17th April

Yeovil MP Adam Dance has backed calls for a cap on heating oil prices. Invitations are being sent out to those in Somerset eligible for the latest Covid vaccine. A pub near Chard has closed just four months after reopening... and more
Thursday 16th April

Wessex Water has been told to pay £300,000 after a sewer spilled into the River Yeo killing dozens of fish. The Brewhouse Theatre in Taunton has been given a grant of half a million pounds. Today marks the official opening of the new visitor centre at Ham Hill... and more
Wednesday 15th April

Yeovil College has been upgraded to a Defence Technical Excellence College. Somerset Council is taking legal action against a housing developer that owes £35,000 in contributions towards local services in Broadway. An Ilminster couple have covered the first 400 miles of their epic walk around the coastline of mainland Britain... and more
Tuesday 14th April

Avon and Somerset Police has launched a new five-year plan to tackle anti-social behaviour. Additional GP appointments will soon be available at three local surgeries, following a £1 million investment to upgrade NHS facilities in Somerset. A Stoke-sub-Hamdon couple whose daughter died of cancer have raised £128,000 in her memory... and more
Monday 13th April

Yeovil MP Adam Dance is calling for better support for survivors of domestic abuse living in rural communities. The RSPB in Somerset is urging people to stop feeding birds to prevent the spread of disease. Yeovil Town Football Club says an issue that had threatened it with removal from the register at Companies House has been resolved... and more