Wednesday 22nd January

Wednesday, 22 January 2025 06:00

By Steve Haigh

Somerset Council is to pay for fifty-bed spaces in nursing homes so that patients can be discharged from hospital quicker. Yeovil MP, Adam Dance, is calling for improved disabled access at Pen Mill and Yeovil Junction railway stations. Crewkerne could soon get a new farm shop...and more.

Somerset Council is to pay for fifty-bed spaces in nursing homes so that patients can be discharged from hospital quicker. NHS Somerset says two-thirds of patients in local hospitals who are medically fit for discharge are not being discharged because of a bed shortage. Somerset Council plans to spend £2 million a year on so-called ‘block beds’ in nursing homes to ease the shortage.

Yeovil MP, Adam Dance, is calling for improved disabled access at Yeovil’s two railway stations. Access for disabled people to the platforms at Yeovil Junction station is only available when a staff member is present to assist. At Pen Mill station, no accessible toilets are provided. Mr Dance has tabled an Early Day Motion in Parliament asking for the Access for All programme to be implemented at both stations.

Somerset cider maker, Thatchers, says it's thrilled to have won a Court of Appeal trademark battle against Aldi. Thatcher's lost a legal challenge against the supermarket chain last year after it said it had copied the labelling on its cloudy lemon cider. Now Judges at the Court of Appeal say Aldi has infringed Thatcher's trademark.

Councillors in Glastonbury have backed proposals to link the town with a new community bus service to Castle Cary. The initiative, led by the Somerset Bus Partnership, aims to make travel between the two towns easier, with improved access for rail passengers travelling to Castle Cary train station.

A public inquiry is to be held to decide the future of a Somerset shopping centre. Churchill Retirement Living wants to demolish the Crispin Shopping Centre in Street and build a retirement complex on the land. But Somerset Council is against the proposal. The refusal to grant planning permission will be the subject of an appeal hearing, starting on April 23rd.

Crewkerne could soon get a new farm shop. Plans have been submitted to open a farm shop and café at Lower Farm in Roundham, run by the A H Warren Trust. In their application, the Trust says the shop will specialise in selling locally grown and sourced goods, including meats from the farm's own livestock.

More from News

Tuesday 21st October

Reckleford in Yeovil is to shut for 15 days for essential drainage works. Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has paid out compensation of £23 million for claims related to birth injuries. A Grade II listed building in Glastonbury has been converted into a health and wellbeing centre...and more
Monday 20th October

Somerton and Glastonbury MP, Sarah Dyke, says the government needs to get an urgent grip on the worsening dentistry situation in her constituency. Bridgwater Town Council has criticised plans by the Somerset Council to charge for Sunday parking. Somerset Council’s Libraries service has launched its Winter Coat Exchange scheme for a third year...and more
Friday 17th October

A new £7 million primary school and nursery is to be built in the grounds of Holyrood Academy in Chard. A public consultation has opened into plans to merge the parishes of Ansford and Castle Cary. The nomination papers that paved the way for Margaret Thatcher to become Britain's first female Prime Minister have been uncovered in a Somerset garage...and more
Thursday 16th October

Two mothers in Chard are calling on carnival organisers to make carnivals more accessible to children with special educational needs. 4,000 people have been put on a waiting list at a new NHS dental practice in Somerset. Channel 4’s ‘Love It or List It’ is looking to feature properties in Somerset in a new series... and more
Wednesday 15th October

The maternity unit at Yeovil Hospital is to reopen within the next six months. There’s been a further delay to reopening Yeovil’s Octagon theatre. No CrossCountry trains will run through Somerset this weekend due to planned industrial action by the RMT union...and more.
Tuesday 14th October 2025

Film and TV crews have given Somerset's economy a £4 million boost in the last 12 months. Around 100 people have objected to plans to build 325 new homes in Crewkerne. Somerset Council is asking the public to report anyone they see sleeping rough...and more
Monday 13th October

Yeovil MP Adam Dance is urging people to join a campaign for improved support for children with dyslexia. An opposition Conservative member of Somerset Council says businesses will suffer a ‘terrible blow’ if plans go ahead to sell off five Yeovil town centre car parks. A Yeovil man has been jailed for three years... and more.
Friday 10th October

Union members at Leonardo sites across the UK, including in Yeovil, have voted to go on strike after rejecting a 3.2 percent pay offer. GWR has apologised for not providing a visually impaired Yeovil women with an escort to cross between platforms at Pen Mill station. A walnut grower in Somerset is calling on supermarkets to stop importing the nuts from aboard and to sell the ones he grows instead... and more