Local News Thursday 14th October

    It’s been announced that Chard's new public swimming pool will open on Monday, November 8th. Businesses in Martock are being advised by police to properly secure their vehicles when parking them outside overnight. The organisation seeking to convert a former care home on Hendford Hill in Yeovil into a homeless shelter has hit back over claims the facility will create anti-social behavior in the area. National Highways have published their latest designs for dualling the A358 between Ilminster and Taunton...and more.

    It’s been announced that Chard's new public swimming pool will open on Monday, November 8th. The five-lane pool, part of Chard’s new leisure centre, also includes a beginners' pool, soft play area, gym and café. Costing 16-million pounds to build, the leisure centre is part of the Chard Regeneration project, with funding provided by the government and South Somerset District Council.

    Businesses in Martock are being advised by police to properly secure their vehicles when parking them outside overnight. It follows a spate of thefts in which the fuel tanks of vehicles left overnight at Martock Business Park have been syphoned.

    The organisation seeking to convert a former care home on Hendford Hill in Yeovil into a homeless shelter have hit back over claims the facility will create anti-social behaviour in the area. A Hendford Hill residents group is trying to block plans for a change of use on the former Acacia House residential home. Bournemouth Churches Housing Association, who are behind the scheme, say it will shut its Newton Road shelter in Yeovil town centre and transfer clients to Hendford Hill if the change of use is approved. They say the shelter will be more secure, have a higher standard of accommodation than the unit in Newton Road and have more internal and external communal spaces, set back from the roadside. South Somerset District Council is due to make a decision on the change of use application before the end of the year.

    National Highways have published their latest designs for dualling the A358 between Ilminster and Taunton. People are invited to go online to comment on the plans before National Highways submit a formal application to the government next year. 

    Churches in Somerset have been in demand for providing campers with a place to sleep – the so-called craze of ‘Champing’. The Churches Conservation Trust says ‘Champing’ has grown in popularity due to restrictions on travelling abroad and people looking for a different kind of holidays experience in this country.

    More from News

    • Thursday 24th July

      Tourism leaders in Somerset are hoping to reverse last year’s downturn in visitor numbers now that the six-week-long school summer holiday is underway. A Chard woman who was driving a van without insurance that crashed has been given a 16-month driving ban. A Somerset hedgehog rescue centre says a lack of rain and hard ground conditions are making it difficult for hedgehogs to survive this summer...and more. 

    • Wednesday 23rd July

      Somerset Council is planning to open twelve new Special Educational Needs units in mainstream schools. Yeovil Hospital is participating in a trial that could revolutionise the treatment of sepsis within the NHS. A 55-acre site in Chard, with plans approved to build 295 homes and a new football ground, has been put up for sale...and more

    • Tuesday 22nd July

      Somerset Community Foundation has launched a "Together for West Somerset Appeal" to help families affected by last Thursday's school coach crash on Exmoor. People in Somerset are being encouraged to improve their recycling of food waste. Free family cooking sessions are being held in Chard. A new children’s soft play area is soon to open in Yeovil...and more

    • Monday 21st July

      A GoFundMe page set up to support families of last week’s Exmoor bus crash, in which a 10-year-old boy died, has raised over forty thousand pounds. A local councillor is calling for the introduction of speed cameras on the A30, from Yeovil to Sherborne. A group from a school in Ilchester have hiked 26 miles across the Jurassic Coast to fundraise in memory of a school colleague...and more

    • Friday 18th July

      EDF has completed another milestone in constructing the new 'Hinkley C' nuclear power plant near Bridgwater. The Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire opens today with helicopters built in Yeovil on display. A road leading to Chard reservoir, shut two months ago for strengthening work to a dam wall, has re-opened...and more

    • Thursday 17th July

      Yeovil MP Adam Dance says he has serious concerns about plans that could see the closure of inpatient beds at Crewkerne Community Hospital. Ilminster residents are being asked to vote in a referendum on adopting a new neighbourhood plan for the town. An event in which people take part in a race against horses is returning to Somerset later this year...and more

    • Wednesday 16th July

      A children’s play area in Ilminster has been closed on safety grounds after badger setts were found on the land. Somerset Council sold off £90m of property assets last year to help fight off bankruptcy. Crewkerne Community Hospital could be turned into a neighbourhood health centre...and more.

    • Tuesday 15th July

      The fire service has blamed a discarded portable barbecue for starting a blaze at Ham Hill Country Park. A care home for people with autism and complex needs in Crewkerne has been rated 'good'. A seven-year-old Yeovil boy has set a new world record for completing the most number of consecutive sit-ups for his age group...and more

    Today's Weather

    • Yeovil

      Heavy rain shower

      High: 24°C | Low: 13°C

    • Chard

      Sunny intervals

      High: 23°C | Low: 12°C

    • Crewkerne

      Sunny intervals

      High: 23°C | Low: 12°C

    • Somerton

      Light rain shower

      High: 23°C | Low: 14°C

    • Wincanton

      Light rain shower

      High: 24°C | Low: 13°C

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