Friday 17th November

Friday, 17 November 2023 06:00

By Steve Haigh

Somerset Council is calling on the government to take urgent action to fix the funding crisis in social care. Business activity across the South West stabilised in October, according to a new report from NatWest. The go-ahead has been given to build 35 new homes at Broadway, near Ilminster...and more.

The Leader of Somerset Council, Councillor Bill Revans is calling on the government to take urgent action to fix the funding crisis in social care. He’s written to the Levelling-up Secretary, Michael Gove, saying the current funding formula for local government does not reflect the actual costs involved in providing essential public services, in particular, social care. Earlier this month, Somerset Council, who are facing a funding gap of £100m in the next financial year, declared a financial emergency and plan to make big spending cuts to help balance the books. In his letter to the government, Councillor Revans says the Council’s overspend is not because of poor controls, but the increased costs of delivering essential services.

Age UK says people in Somerset need to be better prepared for the new digital landline rollout. The UK phone network is going digital by 2025 with landline phones working via a broadband connection, instead of analogue.

The Environment Agency says it is working ‘around the clock’ to minimise the flood risk with more rain forecast over the weekend. The EA is working with Somerset Rivers Authority and Somerset Council to manage the situation, with extra pumps brought into use on the Somerset Levels.

Business activity across the South West stabilised in October, according to the latest Business Activity report from NatWest. The Bank says the trend breaks four months of regional decline and contrasts with a dip in economic performance across the UK as a whole. The Business Activity Index, which measures month-on-month change in output for manufacturing and the service sector, reported stability in October at 50.1 per cent, compared to 47.8 per cent in September.

The go-ahead has been given to build 35 new homes at Broadway, near Ilminster. The scheme, on the north-western edge of the village, is less than one mile from the proposed Ding Meadow development, where 28 new homes are planned behind the Bell Inn. The properties are expected to range from two to four bedrooms in size, with 12 being affordable and five as bungalows.

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Yeovil Town Football Club has received a warning that it could be struck off the register at Companies House. Somerset Council has been given £22 million to provide assistance to people facing cost of living pressures. Members of 1st Ilminster Scout Group have spent a night sleeping outdoors to experience the challenges faced by homeless military veterans... and more
Wednesday 8th April

A Yeovil school teacher has been banned from teaching for sharing inappropriate details about her private life with pupils. A Stoke-sub-Hamdon woman has been given a 17-month driving ban. A Yeovil woman who survived bone cancer is raising is running the London Marathon... and more
Tuesday 7th April

Somerset Council has set aside three hundred and seventy thousand pounds to keep open five leisure centres in the Mendip area. Watercombe Lane in Yeovil is set to close for thirty-one days for gas mains replacement works. It’s been announced that Martock will stage a Pride event in June...and more
Thursday 2nd April

The joint master of a hunt in Somerset has criticised the decision to hold a public consultation on banning trail hunting. Images of two men police want to speak to in connection with an arson attack on a barber’s shop in Wincanton have been released. The company that runs four leisure centres in the Mendip area has gone into administration... and more
Wednesday 1st April

No money has been committed to major new road projects in Somerset. A road linking Chard and Clayhanger has been closed after it collapsed due to badgers burrowing under the surface. The Bishop of Bath and Wells is on day-2 of his pilgrimage across Somerset to mark the holy week of Easter... and more
Tuesday 31st March

Somerset Council says it doesn’t have the money to install solar panels on the roof of the Octagon Theatre. Three men have been charged in connection with an investigation into a hunt in Somerset. Changes have been announced to the times of waste collections in Somerset over the Easter holidays... and more
Monday 30th March

Avon and Somerset Police say its armed officers attended 2,700 incidents in Somerset last year. Plans have been submitted to build 40 new homes in Curry Rivel. South Western Ambulance is offering free CPR and defibrillator training to help improve cardiac arrest survival rates...and more
Friday 27 March

There's been a big improvement in ambulance response times in Somerset. Three local people have been charged with offences linked to the theft and supply of prescription-only drugs. A fragment of a jawbone found in a cave in Cheddar Gorge appears to show that humans kept dogs as pets as far back as 5,000 years ago... and more