Wednesday 13th March

Wednesday, 13 March 2024 06:00

By Steve Haigh

The UK's biggest electric car battery factory being built near Bridgwater needs £150 million of investment in related projects, according to Somerset Council. A Somerset mother whose daughter died after being hit by a speeding car is backing a new road safety campaign. An event is being held this weekend to celebrate the centenary of Chard-born Margaret Bondfield being appointed the first female minister in a British government...and more

The UK's biggest electric car battery factory being built near Bridgwater needs £150 million of investment in related projects, according to Somerset Council. The owners of Jaguar Land Rover are building the £4 billion plant on the former Royal Ordnance Factory site at Puriton. Somerset Council says it needs the money to pay for things like skills training and cycle paths to get to the site.

A Somerset mother whose daughter died after being hit by a speeding car is backing a new road safety campaign after last year saw the highest number of deaths on Somerset’s roads in ten years. According to figures from Avon and Somerset Police, thirty people died in road crashes here in 2023 that's a 43% increase from 2022. Excessive speeding, not wearing a seatbelt or drink or drug driving are all highlighted as key factors in serious or fatal collisions.

Great Western Railway says parking will be temporarily reduced at Castle Cary train station for seventeen days starting next Friday. Access to the new car park off Station Road will be shut and some parking bays in the main car park closed off. GWR says it allows for various improvement projects to be completed.

Work upgrading gas pipes starts next week in Somerton. Wales and West Utilities are warning of major disruption in West Street from Wednesday onwards. Barring any engineering difficulties, the work is due to be finished sometime in April.

The Prince of Wales pub at Ham Hill near Yeovil is to feature in a new TV show called Perfect Pub Walks to be shown on More-Four. The programme, introduced by Strictly Come Dancing winner, Bill Bailey, was filmed last summer and includes an interview with Prince of Wales owner, Mike Holroyd, talking about the pub’s history and that of Ham Hill.

Chard Museum is holding an event to celebrate the centenary of Margaret Bondfield being appointed the first female government minister. Margaret Bondfield was born in Chard in 1873 and attended the High Street School in the town. She left Chard aged 14, and went on to be elected a Labour MP and then appointed as the first female government minister in 1924. Chard Museum will celebrate the life of Margaret Bondfield with an event outside Chard Guildhall this coming Saturday.

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Friday 17th May

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
Thursday 16th May

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.
Wednesday 15th May

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
Tuesday 14th May

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.
Monday 13th May

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.
Friday 10th May

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.
Thursday 9th May

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.
Wednesday 8th May

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.