I’ve just been doing some hunting round to work up a comparison of the Somerset districts basic Council Tax. The graph below includes the very significant County Council tax, the Police precept, the Fire and Rescue Service Precept and each District’s own Council Tax element. It does not include the local Parish or Town […]

I thought you might be interested in reading the response from DCLG which I received recently, especially once you know the back-story. We had noticed that the business rates charged on retail units in Yeovil town centre were high, and very much higher than Peel Retail Park (just off the A30 towards Sherborne). This huge annual […]

The April 2013 update on refurbishing Yeovil Town Centre is now out. You can see how we’re spending your money. So far the story has been one of success with significantly improved trading conditions at the top of town.

  Last Friday (1st March) I had the honour of chairing the Council Tax Setting Committee of South Somerset District Council. This doesn’t happen often (indeed ever), but the Police were so late setting their budget that it wasn’t available at the normal Council Meeting. Hence my sitting on a sub-committee with 5 colleagues (in […]

There are measures in place to ensure that nobody is actually on the street and that every rough sleeper, once identified, is able to access some form of emergency provision, (although some rough sleepers may reject help offered). We have two specialist outreach workers; Sharon Woodsell, who can be contacted on 07918 088118 and Kerry […]

http://www.somersetwaste.gov.uk/collections/bad-weather/

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have today released figures highlighting a dramatic increase in fly-tipping incidents in the South Somerset area during the 2011/12 period. Official statistics from the Government show that whilst nationally there had been an overall decline in fly-tipping (of around 9%), in South Somerset  fly-tipping increased a staggering 55% during the […]

It’s always been an anomaly that you couldn’t get a bus to work from Abbey Manor, and some time ago we started to negotiate for improvements. The County Council has been cutting buses (and plans more cuts) so in order to get the change SSDC worked with Brympton-based South West Coaches to establish a commercially […]

This week I’ll be going along to East Coker Parish Council to talk to them about Neighbourhood Plans. These were introduced so that communities could get together to make a formal plan to bring forward development (I chose those words carefully). In many cities, this will mean that neighbourhoods can make a start on regenerating […]

Open Day on Saturday  28th July from 10 a.m.- 4.00 p.m. An illustrated talk by Dr James Gerrard (Newcastle University Lecturer in Roman Archaeology) will take place at Abbey Manor Community Centre from 7.00 – 9.00 p.m. on Saturday, 28th July.  Free entry, donations gratefully received in aid of the Community Centre.  refreshments available. For further details, including […]