News

The World Cup is being blamed for a higher than average number of arrests being made for drink or drug driving offences in the Avon and Somerset Police area. A man’s body has been found in a house near Chard, three days after it was badly damaged by fire. There’s been a theft of high-value tools and equipment at Wincanton racecourse and Crewkerne's Community Kitchen, set up during the pandemic, has moved to a new permanent base at the George Reynolds Centre.

Members of 845 Naval Air Squadron at RNAS Yeovilton are looking to bring to Somerset a stray puppy that they befriended while deployed in Montenegro. Three HSBC branches in Somerset are to close as customer numbers using their banks continue to fall. Police are continuing to investigate a coach crash near Frome and are appealing for witnesses to contact them. The cancer charity, Macmillan, is urging people with the illness to make contact if they're struggling with the cost of living...and more

An investigation has been launched into an alleged incident during a hunt in South Somerset. A 'warm room' is being set up in Yeovil for people unable to afford to heat their own homes. Children at a school near Ilminster have each been given a fleece to wear to help keep them warm while playing outside. People in Ilminster are being asked to help shape the town’s future...and more.

Work has started setting-up temporary classrooms within the grounds of Milford Junior School in Yeovil. People who live in Park Homes in Somerset have been in London protesting about a 40-year-old law. An area of grassland in Ilminster has been planted with wildflowers as part of a project to make Ilminster greener. A guide dog has been introduced to the group of dancers in Somerton who helped to pay for it to be trained...and more.

Avon and Somerset's Police and Crime Commissioner, Mark Shelford is urging people to be extra careful shopping for Black Friday deals. A Wincanton woman has appeared in court charged with assault. Police are appealing for witnesses to a collision in Yeovil involving a Ford Focus and a van in which the van driver suffered a broken foot. There's a chance to have your say on the response to flooding in Somerset in the future. A Somerset woman has been paid £1,000 in compensation for a delay that meant she was unable to use the bathroom in her home...and more.

Private landlords in Somerset are being asked to provide accommodation for Ukrainian families. The Boundary Commission is asking for people’s views on proposed changes to Somerset’s Parliamentary constituencies. Yeovil Town footballer, Charlie Wakefield has made a YouTube documentary looking at issues of mental health in football. Members of Yeovil, Sherborne and District Soroptimists will be out and about today campaigning in support of a safer world for women and girls. Plans have been passed to build a new visitor centre and café at Ham Hill Country Park...and more.

A survey has shown that it’s become almost impossible to book an NHS dental appointment in Chard, Ilminster, Crewkerne and Martock. It’s been confirmed that people in Somerset on the lowest incomes will not have to pay any council tax from next April. We're being asked to take extra care when using electric heaters. Children are being invited to enter a competition to design a Christmas card for Avon and Somerset Police...and more.

Several so-called ‘warm rooms’ will soon be opening in Chard. Plans have been outlined to build 160 new homes in Templecombe. A Milborne Port man has been fined £425 for driving at 112 miles per hour on the A303 near Wincanton. Police say a man has been arrested in connection with an alleged sexual assault in Yeovil and over one-hundred-and-twenty languages can now be learned for free in Somerset.

Police are appealing for witnesses after a woman was assaulted in Yeovil. The Leader of Somerset County Council says it is inevitable that council tax will have to go up next year. Somerset's carnivals raised a record amount of money with this year's Guy Fawkes circuit. A house near Ilchester, once lived in by Henry the Eighths’ right-hand man, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, has been put up for sale...and more.

Some bus routes in Yeovil and around South Somerset won’t be running as normal today due to strike action by members of the RMT union. Yeovil College has signed up with Leonardo Helicopters in Yeovil as a Community Member of its AW149 Team. Yeovil Town Football Club says its stewards and volunteers are being subjected to abuse on match days and Somerset Waste Partnership is running a series of activities this week to encourage more of us to reuse and recycle our waste.

Egg producers in Somerset say people panic buying eggs is putting extreme pressure on the sector. A judge has ruled that planning permission for new carnival sheds on the Dillington Estate near Ilminster must be re-considered. Over one thousand drivers have been caught speeding through the village of Podimore near Ilchester so far this year. A new partnership has been formed between the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Octagon Theatre in Yeovil...and more.

One in ten nursing posts in the South West is unfilled, according to NHS England figures. Local shop owners say they're 'pleasantly surprised' at how busy they are in the run-up to Christmas. People on low incomes, care leavers and foster carers are set to benefit from a council tax reduction scheme being introduced in Somerset from next April. The owners of Magdalen Farm near Chard have been thanked for providing a day of activities to a group of children with autism...and more.

A business case put forward to combine the running of Yeovil Hospital with Musgrove Park in Taunton has been approved. A pilot scheme involving the use of e-scooters on the streets of Yeovil is set to continue. Thirty-one motorists were caught by Police driving recklessly on the A303 through South Somerset in the space of just half an hour yesterday. A planning decision to allow five units to be built for storing carnival floats on the Dillington Estate near Ilminster has been overturned in the High Court...and more.

The Deputy Leader of Somerset County Council, Councillor Liz Leyshon, says the Council is under great financial pressure to make big spending cuts. Plans have been approved to build a new operating theatre facility at Yeovil Hospital. There’s concern among health professionals in the South West that not enough people are coming forward for a Covid booster jab. Shopworkers in Somerset have been speaking out about the abuse they’re suffering at the hands of customers...and more.

A report just out says the new Somerset Council is facing a shortfall in its budget of £74.2 million pounds and that urgent savings will have to be made. A Yeovil car dealership is set to expand into an empty office block. Police are appealing for witnesses to a road traffic accident in Kingsbury Episcopi. Unpaid carers in Somerset aren't getting the support they need. The Reverend Michael Beasley has been installed as the new Bishop of Bath and Wells...and more.