Somerset Council Press Releases

Somerset Council have notified the Parish Council of press releases they heve issued, concerning Waste Collection Days, Fostering in Somerset, and the end of charges for some items at Recycling Sites.
All these press releases and more can be found at:

www.somerset.gov.uk/newsroom/

Make your Christmas green – recycle your tree

Press release
For immediate release

Make your Christmas green – recycle your tree

With the festive season in full swing, Somerset Council is reminding everyone to put recycling the Christmas tree onto their list.

The best option is to compost it at home or turn it into a wildlife corner, though we appreciate that will not be possible for many people.

Garden Waste Service subscribers can leave their decoration-free tree out with their first collection of the year, so long as its smaller than 2 metres (or 6ft). The service will resume from Monday 8 January.

Trees will not be collected from the kerbside unless you subscribe to the Garden Waste Service.

Many charities, community organisations and groups are running tree collection or drop-off services, raising money for good causes.

These include St Margarets Hospice and Dorothy House Hospice Care. Please check online for details.

Trees can also be taken to any of Somerset’s recycling sites and put it in the garden waste skip.

Recycling sites will be closed on Bank Holidays but will be open for their usual hours at other times, check online for details: www.somerset.gov.uk/waste.

Cllr Dixie Darch Executive Lead Member for Environment and Climate Change said:

“Although there’s festivities still to come, don’t forget to plan what to do with your tree following the seasonal celebrations.
“I’d encourage residents to think green and make sure that Christmas trees are sustainably disposed of, contributing to making Somerset a greener, more sustainable county”.

When it comes to the environmentally friendly choice, the Carbon Trust say that having a real tree rather than a plastic one is often better (depending on where and how it was grown). To even out the carbon used to produce a fake tree, it would need to be used for at least 10 years.

Plastic Christmas trees cannot be recycled. Consider giving unwanted fake trees to charity or offer them up on a reuse platform such as Freegle or Gumtree.

Any fake trees that have lost their Christmas cheer should be disposed of via the Energy from Waste skip at any of Somerset’s recycling sites.

For more tips on how to reduce, reuse and recycle at this time of year visit: www.somerset.gov.uk/SeasonalWaste

Somerset Council – Public consultation on budget setting

A public consultation on Somerset Council’s budget has launched.
It will offer a chance for people to have their say in light of the financial emergency, which was called in November.
It’s open to all, and we are encouraging our Somerset communities, residents, businesses, stakeholders, and partners to take part.
The consultation highlights several discretionary services which could be redesigned, reduced, or even stopped.
It goes live from today (11 December) and will close on 22 January.
The link can be found at: https://somersetcouncil.citizenspace.com/comms/budget-consultation-2024-2025/
It can also be completed in libraries and council offices across Somerset.
Financial Emergency
The in-year overspend for 2023/24 is £27m.
The projected budget gap for 2024/25 is £100m.
To close the gap and balance the budget next year a series of service reductions, efficiency savings, and increases to fees and charges, including Council Tax, will need to be considered.
It is clear that this alone will not close the budget gap.
Plans to fundamentally change the council’s systems and processes to streamline its operations will need to speed up to reduce the size of the council in future.

Press and publicity
A press release will be issued later, with associated social media messaging.
The PR quotes Leader of Somerset Council, Cllr Bill Revans.
“I urge everyone to take part in our consultation, read through the information, understand our challenges, and have your say.
“We are facing very difficult decisions – this is not where we want to be. But we must face the reality of what is, fundamentally, a broken system of local government funding nationally.
“The cost of delivering our services, particularly social care, is increasing at a much faster rate than our income.
“This means we have to consider every available option to plug our budget gap, including increasing fees, reducing operating costs and finding savings across all areas. Before we make any decisions, it’s important we listen to our residents, especially when those decisions will affect people across Somerset.”

Lobbying for fairer funding for Local Government
Cllr Revans says: “We are continuing to lobby Government to address the financial crisis facing local councils. Just last week the County Councils Network published a letter sent to Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove and signed by myself and 32 other Council Leaders from all over the country.
“The letter highlighted the growing concern nationally with 7 out of 10 councils no longer confident they can balance their budget next year.
“We are asking Somerset’s MPs to join our call for fairer funding, and I would encourage anyone who cares about local council services to write to your local MP to ask them to raise this at the highest level.”

Go to: https://somersetcouncil.citizenspace.com/comms/budget-consultation-2024-2025/

And please share with your communities and networks, as appropriate – thanks all.
Ally

Ally Laing
Communications Lead – Members and Stakeholders
Somerset Council
+447989 078188
ally.laing@somerset.gov.uk
Somerset Council

126 Wells to Weston Starts 2nd January 2024

The Parish Clerk has received the following notice from the ‘Wells Bus Users Group’:

News. News. News.
126 Bus is back.
STARTS 2nd January.
thank you for your support.
Lets go by bus, yes.
The operator will be First West buses and buses will run from the Wells Bus garage.

Somerset Council Press Release

The following press release was notified to the WsM Parish Council…

 

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Description automatically generated
Press release
For immediate release

 

Recycling collections delayed due to flooding across the county

 

The flooding which affected parts of Somerset on Monday and Tuesday (4 and 5 December) prevented recycling and refuse crews collecting from hundreds of households in parts of South Somerset.

 

Due to the scale of flooding, crews will be unable to return to some households whose waste collections were missed, including around 500 households in Merriott and Crewkerne. Residents are asked to bring their boxes and bags in and put them back out on their next usual collection day.

 

Crews will today (Wednesday), return to parts of Yeovil to collect recycling missed on Tuesday. Some residents in and around Yeovil and Crewkerne (due to have their recycling collected today) may have a delayed collection, any missed collections will be returned for tomorrow.

 

Due to the weather forecast, disruption to collections may continue for the rest of the week, but crews will be working on Saturday to collect missed recycling.

 

Residents are asked to leave their boxes and bags out for two days. If crews haven’t collected after this point, then please take waste back in and put it back out on their usual collection day next week.

 

Every week crews makes more than 350,000 collections across then county. While the vast majority usually run smoothly, Somerset Council understands the frustration when there are delays.

 

Anyone affected by delayed collections is asked to make the most of the space in boxes and bags by crushing, squashing and flattening items if possible.

 

*Please be aware further disruption is expected tomorrow (Thursday 7 December) with a weather warning for rain in place.

 

You can check whether roads in your area are impacted by visiting Roadworks and travel information (somerset.gov.uk). 

 

Keep up-to-date with live travel and road information on Travel Somerset X feed.

 

Remember – do not drive into flood water. Visit Adverse weather conditions (somersetroadsafety.org) for information about driving in bad weather.

 

 

 

Ends

Flooding Reports

Please send emails of the locations and any photos of flooding to the Parish Clerk at clerk@westburysubmendip-pc.gov.uk so they can be forwarded to Somerset Council.
Thank You,
Denise Boulton
WsM Interim Parish Clerk

Somerset Council notices

Somerset Council is promoting the following three items via Parish Councils:

a) Cardboard waste: https://www.somerset.gov.uk/news/think-outside-the-box-and-cut-the-cardboard-at-christmas/

b) Willow Man:https://somersetcouncil.citizenspace.com/communities/willow-man-feasibility-study/

c) Severe Weather Emergency Provision (SWEP) in some areas of Somerset

http://www.somerset.gov.uk/swep

 

 

 

 

Presentations from Neighbourhood Plan Village Meetings

The information presented at the village meetings on 8th and 9th November are now available on the village website for those unable to attend or those who wish to refresh their memory. They can be accessed here

 

Neighbourhood Plan – New papers added to website

Two new papers are now available on the village website.

A Settlement Character Assessment that seeks to describe what makes the built environment of Westbury special & guidelines for producing developmenty that is ‘in keeping’

A report by Cotswold Archaeology on the heritage value of the traditional barns at Court House Farm and its implications for development.

They can be found here

Both are very large files and may take a little while to load.

‘Wellness Day’ – Weds 15th November

The organisers have asked for this ‘Wellness Day’ information to be published on the Westbury sub Mendip website.

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