Friday 2nd August

Friday, 2 August 2024 06:00

By Steve Haigh

Police are appealing for witnesses to a street fight involving around twenty teenagers in Somerton. Police have seized drugs and weapons including knives during a search of three properties in Castle Cary. The annual Roma Holocaust memorial service takes place today at Sherborne Abbey...and more

Police are appealing for witnesses to a street fight involving around twenty teenagers in Somerton. It happened in Langport Road at around 9 pm on Friday, July 12th. Police would like to hear from anyone in the area at the time who saw the disturbance or has dashcam footage.

Police have seized drugs and weapons including knives during a search of three properties in Castle Cary. Cash, mobile phones and suspected counterfeit designer bags and clothing were also recovered. Three men and two women, arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of class A and B drugs, were later released under investigation, pending further enquiries.

The cost of rural crimes has risen by almost 70 percent in the last twelve months. New figures from NFU Mutual show rural crime cost the county around 1.3 million pounds between June 2023 and June of this year, with gangs stealing from several farms in one night.

Road safety concerns are blocking progress on building 125 new homes and a medical centre in Bruton. Land on either side of Brewham Road has been earmarked for the scheme with the Acorn Property Group building sixty homes to the south, and Woolsington One Ltd 65 new homes to the north, as well as allocating land for a new doctors’ surgery. Somerset Council’s planning committee south discussed both applications at a meeting on July 23rd, with officers recommending they be given the go-ahead. However, the committee voted to defer a decision until further assurances regarding highway safety and access to both sites had been provided.
A business case has been finalised to connect the West Somerset Railway line to the main rail line through Taunton. Currently, the heritage line goes between Bishops Lydeard and Minehead, via Watchet, Blue Anchor, Dunster and Williton. £6 million of public funding would be needed to create the link.

At the Olympics, Becky Wilde from Somerset won a bronze with her partner Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne in the Double Sculls rowing final. The pair finished behind Romania who came 2nd and New Zealand who won gold in the Women's Coxless Four Final Helen Glover who went to school and trained in Somerset won silver along with her teammates Esme Booth, Sam Redgrave and Rebecca Shorten.

The annual Roma Holocaust memorial service takes place today at Sherborne Abbey. The service which starts at midday and will be attended by the Lord Lieutenant of Dorset is held every year in remembrance of Gypsy and Roma people who perished at the hands of the Nazi regime in the second world war.

A former Yeovil College media student will have his latest film premiered at Cineworld in Yeovil tonight. Connor Raithby wrote, directed and stars in Stapler, a comedy about a talking stapler.

More from News

Monday 10th February

A dog, stolen in Norfolk seven years ago, has been found 200 miles away safe and well in Somerset. A man who lives in Seavington St Michael near Ilminster has been jailed after driving a car at police officers. One hundred new affordable homes could be built near Langport...and more
Friday 7th February

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
Thursday 6th February

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.
Wednesday 5th February

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.
Tuesday 4th February

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.
Monday 3rd February

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.
Friday 31st January

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
Thursday 30th January

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