Thursday 16th May

Thursday, 16 May 2024 07:00

By Steve Haigh

Work laying a gas main on the A37 Dorchester Road near the Quicksilver Mail roundabout in Yeovil is to continue for a further two months. Somerset Council says the public toilets in Yeovil bus station will close at the end of the month but the waiting room will stay open temporarily. Former Yeovil Town Captain, Josh Staunton, has set up in business as a professional gardener...and more.

Work laying a gas main on the A37 Dorchester Road by the Quicksilver Mail roundabout in Yeovil will continue for another two months. Wales and West Utilities say temporary traffic lights on Dorchester Road and Hendford Hill will remain until the end of May. After that, temporary lights and a one-way system will operate on Hendford Hill until early August, causing delays to traffic.

Somerset Council says the public toilets in Yeovil bus station will close at the end of the month but the waiting room will stay open temporarily. The Council says it can’t afford the £70,000 needed to keep the toilets open and they will shut on May 31st. The Council says a deal struck with Somerset Bus Partnership and First Bus will keep the waiting room open for a few more months. Meanwhile, Yeovil Town Council is to take on the running of more services from cash-strapped Somerset Council. Yeovil Town Council has already agreed to take over running the Westlands Entertainment Venue, Octagon Theatre, Ninesprings Country Park and Yeovil Rec, adding around one million pounds to its share of the Council tax. Now, it will run open spaces in Yeovil, including play parks and Yeovil in Bloom, at an annual cost of £350,000.

Former Yeovil Town Captain, Josh Staunton, has started a business as a gardener. Josh, who was released by the Glovers last season, says he always planned to start a business when his time ended as a full-time professional footballer.

The number of Bitterns on the Somerset Levels has reached record numbers. Somerset Wildlife Trust says it recently recorded 41 male bitterns on their nature reserves in the Avalon Marshes.

Three sisters are planning to walk from Crewkerne to Lyme Regis raising funds for St Margaret’s Hospice in memory of their late mother. Sisters, Annabel Gray, Laura Tucker, and Sophie Blatchford will set off on the nineteen-mile Liberty Trail to Lyme Regis on Saturday, June 1st, in memory of Caroline Taylor, who died last September.

More from News

Friday 31 May

Legal action is being taken against the Ministry of Defence by former service personnel who claim they've developed cancer due to toxic exhaust fumes from helicopters. Buses of Somerset are trialling a new route to the Yeovilton Air Base on the 54 service. A Somerset dad whose daughter died aged fifteen months has started fundraising for a Bereavement Room at Yeovil Hospital...and more.
Thursday 30th May

Redundancy payments have been made to 49 senior officers at Somerset Council costing £7.4 million with one officer receiving a payoff of half a million pounds. Farmers in Somerset are warning of major problems with this year’s harvest that could make food more expensive. This year’s Royal Bath and West Show opens today... and more.
Wednesday 29th May

Police have safely disposed of a quantity of firearms ammunition found dumped at Yeovil Recycling Centre. Recycling and rubbish collection days will change from next month in Yeovil. A farmer from South Petherton is cycling 1,000 miles this week and next fundraising for the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution...and more.
Tuesday 28 May

More than two hundred knives have been anonymously handed into Avon and Somerset Police so far this month. Plans to build five houses in Chard town centre have been turned down. A man has been fined £220 for illegal fishing in Yeovil. Councillor Brian Hamilton has been elected the new Mayor of Ilminster...and more.
Friday 24th May

A former sub-postmaster living in Somerset says the apology from the former CEO of the Post Office over the Horizon IT scandal is hollow. Police are appealing for help in finding those responsible for dumping a headless lamb in a ditch near Yeovil. Chard is planning an all-day event to mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings...and more.
Thursday 23rd May

More than a thousand people have added their names to a petition calling on Somerset Council to keep the public toilets in Yeovil bus station open. There’s a warning about the wide-scale selling of fake tickets to Glastonbury Festival. The music starts today at the last-ever Shindig Festival to be held on the Dillington Estate near Ilminster...and more.
Wednesday 22nd May

Residents in the Langport area are being advised not to drink tap water following a major water leak. Permission has been given to convert the former Porter Blacks building in Lower Middle Street in Yeovil into ten flats. Yeovil Country Park has been presented with a Royal Horticultural Society five-star award for a fourth time...and more.
Tuesday 21st May

Yeovil has won a share of £236,000 in funding to establish a Future Flight Innovation Zone. Police in Chard are moving to temporary offices while Chard Police Station undergoes a major update. Work's been completed installing new fitness equipment at Ilminster Recreation Ground. Crewkerne will see the return of a farmer’s market next month...and more.