Plans to regenerate Chard town centre have been scaled back due to a lack of cash. Wessex Water has told unvaccinated staff they will be paid less for isolating. Equipment at a play area in Bruton is to be replaced at a cost of £35,000. Royal Mail has apologized for delays delivering the mail in Somerset and Thatcher’s Cider in Somerset is giving away 250 apple trees.
Plans to regenerate Chard town centre have been scaled back due to a lack of cash. South Somerset District Council says the decision not to proceed with Phase Two of the Chard Regeneration Project follows a huge overspend building the town’s new public swimming pool and leisure centre. Plans to revamp Boden Mill and Holyrood Lace Mill have been put on hold due to the lack of available funds.
Wessex Water has told unvaccinated staff they will be paid less for isolating after being in contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid. The decision means they'll be paid the minimum government sick pay of around £96 a week. The company says absences due to Covid have doubled over the last seven days.
Equipment at a play area in Bruton is to be replaced at a cost of £35,000. Bruton Town Council is making the money available to upgrade the Jubilee Park play area following concerns about safety.
Royal Mail has apologized for delays delivering the mail in Somerset. Staff absences due to Covid has led to mail being delivered several days late in some places.
Thatcher’s Cider in Somerset is giving away 250 apple trees. They’re being offered to community groups, schools, care homes, and sports clubs for planting this spring to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
A Yeovil man has been fined £1,200 for sending hostile text messages to his ex-wife. A report into the performance of Avon and Somerset Police has found it doesn't answer emergency calls quickly enough. Twenty-two swimmers at the Trident Swimming Club in Chard have won places in this year’s Somerset County Swimming Championships...and more
A man has appeared in court charged with murdering a one-month-old baby boy in Chard. Kingfisher Primary School in Yeovil has been highly praised by Ofsted. Somerset Council says it’s “extremely disappointed” after its bid to form a devolved Wessex group of local councils was rejected by the government...and more.
The Liberal Democrat Leader of Somerset Council, Councillor Bill Revans, says they had no choice but to ask the government to allow them to lift the 5 percent cap on raising Council Tax. Two teenagers have been released on bail following the stabbing in Yeovil. More than six thousand pounds has been awarded to local groups by Chard Carnival Committee...and more.
Somerset has been permitted to increase its Council Tax share by 7.5 percent. An Ilminster man, forced out of his house by last week's floods, says he doesn't know when he will be able to return home. Ilminster Literary Festival has launched its annual children’s writing competition, designed to encourage local children to write creative literature...and more.
Five men have appeared in court charged with the murder of a man in Yeovil. A 16-year-old is the second person to be arrested in connection with a stabbing in Yeovil. Yeovil’s new outdoor entertainment space in Lower Middle Street has been officially opened by the town’s MP... and more.
A teenager has been arrested following a stabbing in Yeovil. Water bills in Somerset are set to go up on average by £123 from April. Yeovil MP, Adam Dance will officially open Yeovil’s new outdoor performance space later today...and more
Lloyds bank is closing its branch in Chard. A Sherborne man has been jailed after defrauding a Yeovil woman of £40,000. A volunteer group in Chard is urging people to sign up to a flood victims register. A councillor in Shepton Mallet has become the first Reform UK member on Somerset Council... and more
New mums in Somerset could soon be offered a cervical screening test six weeks after giving birth. Police are asking for help in finding a Yeovil man wanted on recall to prison. The government has given half a million pounds towards planting more trees in Somerset, including 100 new trees in Yeovil...and more