The new acting leader of Somerset County Council Bill Revans.
The new acting leader of Somerset County Council, Bill Revans says health and social care are the biggest challenges facing the authority. A former textile mill in Crewkerne has been put up for sale. A Chard nursery is celebrating a successful Ofsted report. A Yeovil man has been fined £120 for illegal fishing and members of Hinton St George Scouts have been selected to take part in an international charitable project.
The new acting leader of Somerset County Council, Bill Revans says health and social care are the biggest challenges facing the authority. The Liberal Democrats won control of the county council from the Conservatives in last week's local elections, after 13-years in opposition. They'll now run the county council for 1 year and then for the following four years the new Somerset Unitary Council, replacing the county and district councils in April next year.
A former textile mill in Crewkerne has been put up for sale. Planning permission was granted in 2013 to partially demolish and convert to commercial units with forty-five dwellings, Old Viney Bridge Mill but no work has been carried out at the site. The grade two listed complex will be offered for sale by auction later this month.
A Chard nursery is celebrating a successful Ofsted report. Honeycomb Nursery School achieved ‘outstanding’ results after an inspection in March. The inspector reported that “children flourish at the Nursery and have a zest for learning.
A Yeovil man has been fined £120 for illegal fishing. Alan Reid of Westfield Road in Yeovil was found committing three offences, including not having a fishing licence, by fisheries officers at Coking Farm fishery, near Henstridge.
Members of Hinton St George Scouts have been selected to take part in an international charitable project. Six scouts will take part in ‘Project Kenya’, travelling to the Great Rift Valley, to work as volunteers at primary schools in Nakuru in April next year.
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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