Around forty new jobs could be created at Leonardo in Yeovil. Test flights for so-called air taxis are set to take place in the South West by 2024. Somerset Wildlife Trust has criticised the government for delaying the introduction of new laws to protect Beavers and South Somerset District Council made an income of £2.8 million pounds from two battery storage sites.
Around forty new jobs could be created at Leonardo in Yeovil following a sixty million pound contract awarded by the government. It’s to deliver a new type of drone, capable of taking off and landing vertically, for the Royal Navy. Leonardo says the bulk of the work on the Rotary Wing Un-crewed Air System Technology Programme, will take place at its factory on Lysander Road in Yeovil.
Test flights for so-called air taxis are set to take place in the South West by 2024. Unveiled at the Farnborough Air Show, they would take off and land vertically like a helicopter, carrying up to four passengers and travelling at speeds of up to 200 miles an hour.
Somerset Wildlife Trust has criticised the government for delaying the introduction of new laws to protect Beavers. The Trust claims research has shown that Beavers help with flood management and improve water quality. The Trust is urging the government to get on with giving Beavers greater protection because of the good they do.
South Somerset District Council made an income of £2.8 million pounds from two battery storage sites that it owns in the last financial year April 2021 to March 2022. The Council invested £43.5 in creating the sites - one of which is on the outskirts of Taunton and the other near Fareham in Hampshire. The sites store surplus electricity and sell it back to the National Grid at peak times.
The Leader of Somerset Council has repeated his call for a reform of the way that councils are funded. Crimestoppers is stepping up efforts to help tackle violent crime in Somerset. A new radar satellite is playing a crucial role in collecting data about flooding in Somerset...and more
Somerset Council has approved a seven-and-a-half percent increase in council tax. People are being asked to return boxes of paracetamol bought from Boots Chemists in Somerset. It’s been revealed that five members of staff at Somerset Council are being allowed to work from home outside the UK...and more
Somerset Council has been told that hundreds of millions of pounds in loans taken out by former district councils, including South Somerset, have to be paid back. A Somerset charity says it needs more volunteers to help with research into new treatments for dementia. A local shop owner has welcomed Somerset Council’s decision to scrap plans to charge for parking after 6 pm...and more.
The population of Somerset has reached record levels with nearly one in ten born outside the UK. Stanchester School in Stoke-sub-Hamdon has been rated as ‘requiring improvement’. Experts have been called in to appraise a 15th-century piece of artwork in Sherborne...and more.
A woman from Crewkerne has been fined £280 for assaulting two emergency workers. Plans have been announced to open new NHS dental surgeries in Chard and Crewkerne. A Yeovil man has been thanked for raising £10,000 for the cardiac charity Heartbeat...and more
A local man has been charged after allegedly driving a tractor while under the influence of alcohol. One hundred bikes, collected with household waste in Somerset, have been donated to charity. The junction of the A37 Ilchester Road and Stiby Road in Yeovil will again shut this evening for resurfacing...and more.
Fourteen hundred people have added their names to a petition against Somerset Council's plans to scrap free car parks. St Margaret’s Hospice has won a share of £25 million of government funding. A man from Charlton Adam is preparing to visit Ukraine as an Aid Worker for a tenth time...and more
A local man has been charged with possessing an air weapon following an incident in Yeovil town centre. The Labour government has removed funding to the Amulet Theatre in Shepton Mallet that the previous Conservative government had allocated. Entries are now open for this year’s Minster Miles 10K fun run with organisers aiming to exceed last year’s number of runners...and more.