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

Monday 16th June

The new owner of Yeovil Town says he’s in talks with Somerset Council about buying back Huish Park. Water levels at some of Somerset’s reservoirs are below what they should be for this time of year. A Chard woman has been recognised in the King's Birthday Honours... and more.
Friday 13th June

Police are appealing for witnesses to a road traffic accident near Chard, which left one person with life-threatening injuries. Texas Rocks in Middle Street, Yeovil, has closed temporarily following a significant fire. A Yeovil dental hygienist has been named as a finalist in the Ms Great Britain competition...and more.
Thursday 12th June

Yeovil MP Adam Dance has criticised the Chancellor’s Spending Review for not delivering real change for Yeovil and South Somerset. The CEO of Leonardo UK states that they’re working towards closing the gender pay gap within the company. Yeovil Town is relocating its first-team training camp to Bristol... and more.
Wednesday 11th June

People in Somerset are being asked for their views on the state of the county’s roads and footpaths. A trial is being conducted at Yeovil Hospital to investigate whether administering shorter courses of antibiotics to patients can effectively treat sepsis. Somerset Council says it has no plans to reopen a block of public toilets in Chard...and more.
Tuesday 10th June

A mother from Chard says schools need to do more to identify students with dyslexia. A fire in a van that caught alight at Stoke-sub-Hamdon is being treated as accidental. A former Yeovil-based police officer, who made it appear he was working when he wasn’t, has been barred from policing...and more
Monday 9th June

Somerset Council is giving £1.5m to Hill View Special School at Ash near Martock to prevent it from closing. Two men have been convicted of killing a Yeovil man they mistakenly believed to be a convicted paedophile. People across Somerset are being asked to make a note of any wildlife they see...and more
Friday 6th June

Community Speedwatch volunteers in Keinton Mandeville have stopped monitoring the local traffic because of online and verbal abuse. Redstart Primary School in Chard has been rated as ‘Good’ by Ofsted. A care home resident in Glastonbury has raised more than one thousand pounds for Children's Hospice Southwest by knitting soft toys...and more.
Thursday 5th June

Yeovil MP Adam Dance says he’s been told the temporary closure of the maternity unit at Yeovil Hospital will not be made permanent. Firefighters have dealt with a fire on a coach carrying passengers at Vagg Hill in Yeovil. The authorities in Chile are holding a man who lives in Milborne Port after being found with class-A drugs in a suitcase...and more.