Local News Friday 9th December

Friday, 9 December 2022 06:00

Yeovil MP Marcus Fysh is urging the government to speed up allocating a £1.2 billion contract to build new medium-lift helicopters for the RAF. Yeovil College is being given one point two million pounds to spend on a new specialist engineering department. A pilot scheme, using a battery-driven waste collection vehicle in Somerset, has run into problems. A leading car franchise in Yeovil has changed hands...and more.

Yeovil MP Marcus Fysh is urging the government to speed up allocating a £1.2 billion contract to build new medium-lift helicopters for the RAF. Leonardo in Yeovil with the AW149 shortlisted for the order. Marcus Fysh says the war in Ukraine has shown why the government needs to act more quickly on the contract.

Yeovil College is being given one point two million pounds to spend on a new specialist engineering department. The government funding will go towards facilities and equipment for teaching about hydrogen cell technology in aerospace engineering. The Department for Education says it will make sure students in Yeovil are at the forefront of developments in net-zero and cell technology.

A pilot scheme, using a battery-driven waste collection vehicle in Somerset, has run into problems. Somerset Waste Partnership has been trialing an electric waste vehicle to see if it would make a suitable replacement for its diesel-powered vehicles. However, due to electrical problems, the vehicle proved to be less than reliable and has often had to be taken out of service. SWP is carrying out a separate trial using hydrogenated vegetable oil instead of diesel to run its vehicles. A report on this trial is due out in February.

A leading car franchise in Yeovil has changed hands. Westerly BMW and Mini on the Houndtsone Business Park in Yeovil have been sold by the Helston Garages Group to Vertu Motors. The deal, worth £117 million, also sees Vertu take on a further twenty-one Helston car dealerships.

A stretch of the main road leading into Ilminster is closed for repairs today. The old A3037 between Cricket Lane and Dowlish Ford will stay closed until early this evening for ironworks, including the drains, to be repaired.

The 2023 South Somerset Heritage Calendar is now on sale. This year’s theme commemorates the Queen’s Coronation 70 years ago and the 90th anniversary of the flight over Everest of two Westland-built aircraft. The calendar can be bought at the Ninesprings Café, Yeovil Recreation Ground Café, The Emporium in Yeovil, and the Visitor Information Centre at Cartgate.

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