Local News Monday 14th February

Monday, 14 February 2022 06:00

A Yeovil travel agent says bookings for holidays abroad have gone back up to pre-pandemic levels. Schools across Somerset are having to limit face-to-face teaching due to Covid-related staff shortages. Hundreds of metres of high-value copper cabling have been stolen near Merriott. Farmers in Somerset say they want to make their farms safe for ramblers but that access can be difficult. Police have found a stolen trailer while offering security advice to a farm owner in Somerton...and more.

A Yeovil travel agent says bookings for holidays abroad have gone back up to pre-pandemic levels. Covid travel restrictions have been eased, meaning that anyone who's fully vaccinated can return to the UK without having to do any tests. Miles Morgan of Miles Morgan Travel in Middle Street, Yeovil, says there’s huge pent up demand amongst the public to holiday abroad.

Schools across Somerset are having to limit face-to-face teaching due to Covid-related staff shortages. Somerset County Council say staff sickness has become a major problem with ten per cent of schools now limiting face-to-face teaching, due to sickness. The Council says Covid cases remain high amongst school children with people in the general population locally being re-infected with Covid.

Hundreds of metres of high-value copper cabling have been stolen near Merriott. The cabling, belonging to a telecommunications company, was taken in the area of Eggwood Hill. It happened at around 1 am in the early hours of Tuesday, February 8th. Anyone with dashcam footage in the area of Merriot on that date and around that time is asked to call the police non-emergency number 101.

Farmers in Somerset say they want to make their farms safe for ramblers but that access can be difficult. It follows an updating of the Countryside Code that requires farmers to make rights of way more accessible, including removing stiles in favour of gates and putting up better signage.

Police have found a stolen trailer while offering security advice to a farm owner in Somerton. They say the trailer had been security marked which made it easy to identify as stolen. Enquiries are ongoing into how it came to be at the farm in Somerton in the first place.

People in Chard without a job are being offered free support to find work. It follows the opening of a new employment and skills hub in Chard library, in Holyrood Street, run by local housing provider, Abri.

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