Local News Thursday 30th June

Thursday, June 30th, 2022 6:00am

Eleven thousand more people now live in South Somerset compared to ten years ago, according to the 2021 Census. A bypass for Chard, planned seven years ago, is coming under fresh scrutiny. A further eleven thousand homes in South Somerset are to get ultrafast broadband. Anyone who sets up unauthorised camps in Somerset could now be given a prison sentence and a fine of £2,500 and a new book is due out soon telling the story of Montacute.

Eleven thousand more people now live in South Somerset compared to ten years ago, according to the 2021 Census, details of which have just been published. The Census shows 172,700 people living in South Somerset, up 7 percent from 161,243 in the last census of 2011. The balance of men and women in South Somerset has also changed with 48.9 percent of the population male and 51.1 percent female. The population is also aging. A decade ago, 21.6 percent of people in South Somerset were aged over 65s, now over 65-year-olds account for 25.5 percent of the local population.

A bypass for Chard, planned seven years ago, is coming under fresh scrutiny. The Chard Eastern Relief Road is meant to divert traffic away from the town centre but a petition has been launched asking for the road to be routed well away from the town's reservoir and nature reserve.

A further eleven thousand homes in South Somerset are to get ultrafast broadband, thanks to extra funding from the government. It brings the number of homes and businesses in South Somerset provided with ultrafast broadband by Wessex Internet to 4,700 with places like Isle Abbotts, South Petherton, Tintinhull and Bower Hinton better connected.

Anyone who sets up unauthorised camps in Somerset could now be given a prison sentence and a fine of £2,500. The new Police Act has introduced extra legislation to protect landowners.

A new book is due out soon telling the story of Montacute. The ‘Book of Montacute’ is the second in a series of histories of the village written by local author, Clarence Bradley, who has lived in Montacute since 1944.

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