Local News Friday 4th November

    Plans have been announced for a new rail service in Somerset that would be managed as a co-operative. Occupational therapy is being expanded across Somerset. More help is being provided to people in the greatest need in Chard. There's been a 50-percent increase in the number of disabled people losing benefits due to long hospital stays in Somerset...and more.

    Plans have been announced for a new rail service in Somerset that would be managed as a co-operative. Go-op is a community-owned train operating company that plans to run services between Taunton and Westbury, including ten trains a day through Castle Cary and Bruton from next year. The company has applied to the rail regulator, who is now considering the idea. 

    Occupational therapy is being expanded across Somerset. It’s now available at local GP surgeries in Somerset as part of efforts to reduce pressure on local hospitals. 

    More help is being provided to people in the greatest need in Chard. The Chard Community Fridge project provides tinned food, cooked meat, fresh vegetables, and other food items, also hygiene products, and shampoos. It operates from the Chard Community Hub with food items donated by local supermarkets.

    There's been a 50-percent increase in the number of disabled people losing benefits due to long hospital stays in Somerset. The Government doesn’t pay benefits to people when they are in receipt of long-term NHS in-patient care. It’s to stop the taxpayer from paying double to recipients but charities claim the ruling penalises the most vulnerable in society. 

    A girl from Broadway near Ilminster has raised £1000 to help provide new playground equipment in the village. Kaitlyn Harrop held a Halloween party last weekend, raising £1034 to help pay for new play equipment at Broadway Village Park.

    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

    Today's Weather

    • Yeovil

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    • Crewkerne

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