The Somerset Leveller 158

Mariella Frostrup in Stoke St Grgeory to proclaim a roof top revolution see p30

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Letters to the editor

Dear Editor Issue 156, Page 34, Another lifeline for our pubs

The government giveth with one hand only to take with the other. Yes they have graciously extended the permission for licences premises to sell takeaway beers and alcoholic drinks via their existing license rather than needing a specific off sales licence…….however…….

At the same time the duty on alcoholic drinks has been revised with a sliding, increasing scale of duty rates being applied according to the strength of any beer, wine or spirit etc. And if the alcoholic beverage is to be consumed anywhere than in a licensed premises the rates are X 3. That means a pint of draught beer attracting 9p duty when purchased and consumed at the pub is 27p if taken away for home consumption.

Also it is for the premises to make all the individual calculations for each drink sold as, in the case of draught beer, a lower alcohol by volume of 3.8 is a complete different rate to 4.1

So if you are a small brewer with a tap room and takeaway provision you need a degree in advanced mathematics to make your regular returns to HMRC along with the payment. It’s enough to make you reach for a glass Dorian Mead Ilminster

Dear Sir/Madam,

Christmas is a time when families and friends look forward to getting together, but for the 1 in 5 adults with hearing loss, crowded dinner tables full of people laughing and shouting over each other can be a nightmare to follow. Not to mention softly lit rooms and the blaring notes of Rocking around the Christmas tree. This is no Christmas cracker joke.

You may have family or friends that struggle with hearing loss? Or perhaps you are the one who often feels left out of conversations?

RNID’s Christmas Dinner Game was created to ensure that everyone at your dinner table can have fun together whilst being deaf aware to make sure that everybody feels included and no-one misses that joke you’ve been practising!

Visit rnid.org.uk/game and we’ll send you a game pack in the post which will include everything you need to have a festive, fun filled dinner, at the same time as also learning a bit of BSL on the side! You’ll also find tips for being Deaf Aware on our website. This Christmas let’s make sure no one is left out.

Teri Devine

Director of Inclusion and Employment at RNID Peterborough

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Copyright and

Your powerful article calls for planning rules to be strengthened in order to prevent the sort of wholesale vandalism of the countryside that has been carried out so visibly and so vigorously across Somerset.

You rightly say that building ever larger numbers of  expensive new houses, of the kind that we now see all around us in the countryside,  does nothing to help local people who cannot get on the housing ladder. You mention 3-4 bedroom houses costing £350,000 - but we now regularly see new builds on the market in villages for £500-600,000.

In the words of the South Somerset Local Plan Review : ‘New housing has been delivered in the Rural Settlements far in excess of what the Local Plan anticipated’ * . Unfortunately, very little of it meets local affordable housing needs.

As you also say, it is the public who have to pick up the tab in terms of funding the infrastructure for these houses, as the developer’s contributions to new medical centres, schools, and sewerage are merely token amounts. The Council and its predecessors have been struggling for years to make up the difference, and this has contributed to the imminent bankruptcy of the new unitary council after barely a year in existence. The pressure on existing services is likely to increase, as the Council will say that from now on, only essential social care and other statutory services can be provided.

A few years ago CPRE Devon commissioned research from The University of Swansea which showed that two thirds of open market new builds in Devon are bought by people moving into the area from elsewhere in the UK, for example downsizing from larger houses, or retiring to the South West. Anecdotal evidence in Somerset suggests that exactly the same situation pertains in Somerset.

It is indeed depressing that the Labour Party appears to be committed to a continuation of the same kind of 'build at all costs’ policy, without regard to the types of houses being delivered, rather than proposing a radical social housing building program. A new CPRE research report on the rural housing crisis shows that waiting lists for social housing in rural parts of the south-west have risen 44.6% since the turn of the century ('Unravelling the Housing Crisis: the State of Rural Affordable Housing- November 2023’  ). In the countryside, government should support local communities to deliver small-scale developments of genuinely affordable housing and make it easier for councils to purchase land at a reasonable price, enabling the construction of social housing and vital infrastructure. This means that If no suitable sites for a rural exception site or community land trust can be found in villages with an identified need for affordable housing, and if the biggest local landowners with hundreds of acres will not voluntarily provide a corner of a field for such schemes at a small premium to agricultural value, then compulsory purchase should be an option.

Yours sincerely,

Hugh Williams - Chair Fletcher Robinson MSc Planning - Trustee and Planner CPRE Somerset

Dear Editor

I had been meaning to write you for some time about the excellent investigative articles in recent editions of The Leveller which my partner picks up at Tesco in Yeovil.

May I take this opportunity of adding extra ammunition to the article on Somerset Unitary Council's £40 million gap in its finances by bringing to your attention that there were at the last count 67 empty shops in Yeovil which when trading would have added substantial business rates to the council's coffers.

In addition, and more concerning will be the loss of business rates with the closure and subsequent administration of Pittards Plc. Now to an entirely different matter for you to write about, in that I recently had constructive dealings with Mr Steve Ashton whom I believe is known to you, and during our conversation he informed me that since they took over on the 1st April 2023, Somerset Unitary Council have unilaterally discontinued the procedure where those persons affected by a planning application were notified of its existence so as to enable them to make observations.

This unfortunately has happened twice recently to the leaseholders here at Beaumont House, Sherborne Road, Yeovil, in that back in June the arborist for Beaumont House (Management) Limited applied for permission to carry out works to Copper Beach and London Plane trees both subject to Tree Preservation Orders. Planning permission was granted on the 30 June without at least 3 leaseholders being contacted in advance.

Also, at this moment in time, there is a planning application by the owner of 196 Sherborne Road, Yeovil to convert that property from a single dwelling into a House in Multiple Occupation containing six unrelated persons. The application has not been advertised in the immediate surroundings, so that those likely to be affected by the intensification of use are not aware of the likely impending change.

Please get in touch if you require any further information on either subject.

Kind regards,

Michael Taylor MRICS (ret'd),Yeovil

Your Council Contacts

You should be able to get details of services and meeting dates via the contact details for your local council below: Town Councils

Axbridge Town Council 07884 264033 https://axbridge-tc.gov.uk/

Bridgwater Town Council 01278 427692

Bruton Town Council 01749 813014 townclerk@brutontowncouncil.gov.uk

Burnham on Sea & Highbridge Town Council 01278 788088 townclerk@burnham-highbridge-tc.gov.uk

Castle Cary Town Council (01963) 359631 town.clerk@castle-cary.co.uk

Chard Town Council 01460 239567

Crewkerne Town Council 01460 74001

Dulverton Town Council 01398 324561 clerk@dulvertontowncouncil.co.uk

Frome Town Council 01373 465757 info@frometowncouncil.gov.uk

Glastonbury Town Council 01458 831769 office@glastonbury.gov.uk

Ilminster Town Council 01460 52149 town.council@ilminster.gov.uk

Langport Town Council 01458 259700 office@langport.life

Martock Town Council 01935 822891 or 07506 286382 clerk@martock-pc.gov.uk

Minehead Town Council 01643 707213 info@mineheadtowncouncil.co.uk

North Petherton Town Council 01278 574074 townclerk@nptc.info

Shepton Mallet Town Council 01749 343984 info@sheptonmallet-tc.gov.uk

Somerton Town Council 01458 272236

town.clerk@somertontowncouncil.gov.uk

Street Parish Council 01458 440588 street.parish@street-pc.gov.uk

Taunton Town Council 01823 793637 Info@taunton-tc.gov.uk

Watchet Town Council 01984 633344 townclerk@watchettowncouncil.org

Wellington Town Council 01823 662855 info@wellingtontowncouncil.co.uk

Wells City Council 01749 673091 townclerk@wells.gov.uk

Wincanton Town Council 01963 31693 info@wincantontowncouncil.co.uk

Wiveliscombe Town Council 01984 631914 or TownClerk@wiveliscombe.com

Yeovil Town Council 01935 382424 ytc@yeovil.gov.uk

Somerset Council Office hours (8.30-5.00) service: 0300 123 2224

There’s no email contact for the council but there is a web page which allows you to report specific items to obtain information or make payment: https://www.somerset.gov.uk/contact-us/

The Somerset Day

15 December

Sunrise 8.08 am

Sunset 4.03 pm

15 January

Sunrise 8.09 am

Sunset 4.32 pm

Moral Equivalence?

It shouldn’t need saying, but as these are troubled and highly charged times, I’m going to say it anyway. The attack by Hamas on southern Israel on 7 October was unforgivable, inexcusable and a moral outrage. The deaths of more than 1,400 Israelis must leave a gaping wound in the body politic of the state of Israel as much as it has been devastating for the families and friends of those who died.

That Israel should want to retaliate is equally understandable. That they should wish to wipe Hamas off the face of the earth, as their spokespeople frequently put it, is also a natural human reaction and perhaps a legitimate military objective as well.

What is disturbing about the reaction from Israel is the dehumanisation of the entire Palestinian population of Gaza. This is not just a recent phenomenon. Israel’s new deputy defence minister, Ben Dahan, in 2013 describing the Palestinians said that: “To me, they are like animals, they aren’t human.” The President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, set the same tone recently saying: “It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. This rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved, it’s absolutely not true.” Young and old alike are tarred with the same brush. MP Meirav Ben-Ari from Yair Lapid’s opposition party Yesh Atid explains it thus: “And the children in Gaza – the children in Gaza have brought this upon themselves!”

As to my own profession, Israel accused some journalists of having prior warning of the events of 7 October, without offering any evidence. The Israeli Foreign Ministry shared a tweet repeating the accusations, still with no evidence and publishing photos of the journalists involved, blatantly putting them in danger. MP Danny Danon went further, saying: “the journalists would be added to a list of people marked for assassination.” In the last month 63 journalists have been killed in Gaza. Israel likes to talk about being a democracy, and proclaims frequently its western values and how superior they are to those of the Arab nations that surround it. I can’t think of any other western democratic nation which would have journalists on an assassination list. Nor are extra judicial killings a notable feature of western democracy.

Treating an entire nation as war criminals, including women and children is not, to my eyes at least, the act of a civilised society, however wounded it may be. It is not the reaction of a rational society either. It is the reaction of bigots.

There are of course plenty of Israeli voices, as there always have been, speaking rationally. Speaking out against the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians in Gaza. Just as the rest of the world has (for the most part) spoken out against the indiscriminate killing of Israeli citizens on 7 October. There are plenty of Israelis who do genuinely desire a peaceful accommodation with the Palestinians, who still hope for a two-state solution. It is regrettable that those voices are being drowned out by a chorus of racist and bigoted language coming from some of the political elite of Israel.

Palestinian persecution

The treatment of the Palestinians of Gaza as a whole (as opposed to the terrorists of Hamas) from the beginning of the war, has been at odds with a country whose military at least, proclaim they are only going after Hamas. Primarily the use of mass displacement of the local population. Take for instance the start of the war. The Israeli

Defence Force (IDF) told all Gazans living in North Gaza to leave for the south of the Gaza strip, an area south of Wadi Gaza. On 13 October they gave them 24 hours to leave before launching a ground assault and air raids on the north.

Some of you might well think that’s reasonable. At least they gave the civilians a chance to get away. So let’s put this into some context. Imagine for a moment that the situation was to occur in Britain. Let’s say that all the citizens of Birmingham were asked to leave for Coventry. Birmingham has a similar population to North Gaza; Coventry a similar population to the south. Can you imagine how in excess of one million citizens of Birmingham would escape the city for Coventry. The roads would be instantly congested. Traffic would grind to a halt. Twenty-four hours would be enough to see chaos, vehicles abandoned, people fleeing on foot. Running trains continuously would put but a small dent in the logistical exercise (and Gaza has no trains). It would be impossible, physically, to get one million people to Coventry from Birmingham in the space of 24 hours. In a British context, the impossibility of the situation is obvious. And when the good folks of Birmingham arrived in Coventry, where would they go? Coventry has just under 5,000 empty homes at the moment. Which is nothing compared to the one million people with no shelter, no housing, no facilities or food, nor running water. Imagine what the streets of Coventry would look like, swarming with refugees looking for any form of shelter. Parks would be full of people, public buildings the same.

But once the population of Birmingham was decamped to Coventry, what would the inhabitants of Coventry do for food? How soon would the shelves be empty, the medical facilities overrun? Yet this is precisely what the IDF asked of the civilian population in Gaza. And when those in the north did not all flee, it was suggested that Hamas was stopping them from going. A convenient piece of propaganda? The more obvious answer, that the task was physically impossible from the start, has never been entertained. Not playing fair

And we should not forget that significant numbers, certainly hundreds of thousands did flee south. And Israel maintained regular air and bomb attacks on the south of Israel. Continuously. The IDF knew, because it had created the situation, that southern Gaza was flooded with refugees. There’s no such thing as precision bombing when an area is overflowing not just with a resident population, but thousands of refugees. When people are sleeping in the street, gathering in hospital compounds, sleeping in every available space, of course the casualties are going to mount among the civilian population. Israel’s protestation that this is just unfortunate collateral damage is at odds with the way in which the IDF has prosecuted the war. And forced displacements continue, as Israel now targets the south of Gaza. Israel denies Palestinian claims that 15,000 civilians have been killed. What it is unable to deny, is that it has killed 101 United Nations staff. More have been killed in Gaza than in any other war since the creation of the UN.

The fact is that the state of Israel has never treated a Palestinian life as equal to an Israeli one. To understand that perception, we need simply look at hostage negotiations both now and in the past. When Hamas offered to give up 50 hostages and let them return to Israel, it was in return for the release of 150 women and children held in Israeli jails.

In 2006 an IDF soldier, Gilad Shalit, was kidnapped by Hamas. His release was negotiated in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian and Israeli Arab prisoners. This is normal for negotiations. An Israeli captive is “worth”, in Israeli eyes, many more Palestinians.

Again it is important to stress that the actions of the Israeli state should not be taken as actions by or on behalf of all Israelis. There are people in Israel who do not support the government. Who would accept that the prosecution of the war against Hamas did not involve taking reasonable steps to protect the civilian population. But equally, as it is important to condemn the attacks of 7 October, it is important to recognise that the prosecution of the war in Gaza, on any rational analysis, has inevitably killed a disproportionate number of civilians.

And, given the use of racist and dehumanising language, it is hard to look at that as unavoidable and unfortunate collateral damage.

Left page

Left, Right and Over and Green!

The task we set our commentators this month was. With the financial crisis at Somerset council deepening, what would you like to see for the future of local government funding. Is it broken? How should we pay for it to put local government funding on a more sound footing?

These are the politicians tasked with giving you an answer:

Left Page: Leigh Redman is a Somerset and Bridgwater town councillor and a Labour Party member.

Right Page: David Fothergill is a Conservative councillor for Monkton and North Curry. He is leader of the opposition on Somerset Council (SC).

Over The Page: Liz Leyshon is the Libdem County Councillor for Street and is Deputy Leader of SC.

Green Page: Martin Dimery is the Green Party Leader on SC and candidate for the Frome & East Somerset constituency

The Left Page by Leigh Redman

What an interesting question. Interesting because there is no easy answer. I am afraid there is no real option but to find some serious cash. The government needs to put in place a realistic long term funding settlement and we need to find a way to reduce profit making by private companies who benefit from a rigged & limited market. You have heard me say it before, but, we are in this position mainly because of 13 years of Tory government. You are going to say ‘he is blaming them again’, but it is the truth, they have spent 13 years cutting local government finance while making their rich mates richer. Lots of councils (all colours) have had to make really difficult decisions as a result of a lack of funding. The LGA have been calling on the Government to provide adequate funding for councils, more clarity on financial reform and to move away from one-year finance settlements so councils can continue to keep the services our communities rely on, running. Severe funding and demand pressures mean council finances are under pressure like never before. It is said that councils in England face a funding gap of almost £4 billion over the next two years - up £1 billion since the summer.

The next government will have a real job ahead of them, sorting out the mess left behind. But remember the next government won’t be able to fully plan until they see the full position of the finances.

OK, now let me try and offer an option. Local government funding in the UK is primarily derived from three main sources: government grants, council tax, and business rates. Local authorities in England receive around 19% of their funding from government grants, 54% from council tax, and 27% from retained business rates.

The challenge lies in putting local government funding on a more sound footing, which in turn involves ensuring a long-term sustainable settlement that allows councils to plan local services efficiently, reduce demand and cost pressures on other parts of the public sector and address the differing business rates and council tax revenue bases councils have, as well as the differing service pressures they face. The funding model also involves local authorities generating income through rents, fees, charges, sales ad investments. Therefore, to put UK local government funding on a more sound footing, it is essential to consider a multi-year settlement, address the differing revenue bases and service pressures, and ensure efficient financial management by local authorities.

In the meantime we are stuck. The new Somerset Council sits almost in the middle if we compare it with other Unitary Authorities for band D rates of council tax charged this year. As a council we are making savings, these savings come on top of cuts already inflicted. I have to say Somerset council has reduced what it does by more than 60% in the last 10 years. There is no easy answer for Somerset Council. The only way we can rebuild is to change the way that local government is funded, and I am sorry but that means someone will have to pay for it.

All that said I want to leave you all in this December issue on a positive note, wishing you all a happy festive period however you choose to celebrate.

Right Page

by David Fothergill

Let’s be very clear from the outset, local politicians are elected to run local services. They are locally accountable and whilst very tempting to shift blame to national government, the moral and legal responsibility lies with those local politicians as they are required to set balanced budgets.

During my five years as Leader I was proud to present balanced budgets every year. It wasn’t easy though, being in a position of responsibility never is – unexpected emergencies, competing priorities and difficult decisions. I remember Thursday 13th September 2018 as if it was yesterday. It was on that day that my colleagues and I had to decide on seventy lines of savings to make the budget balance. It was probably one of my worst days and TV footage from the evening shows the dramatic emotional impact it had had upon me. But those decisions needed to be made locally, with local understanding and local empathy.

So should the National Government now step in to save authorities who have mismanaged their finances by failing to take difficult decisions, failing to meet financial targets and failing to focus on delivering a sustainable Council?

I recently spent a few days in a large Southeast Council which had failed its electorate and had subsequently declared a s114, bankruptcy notice. The impact of that notice and the appointment of external Commissioners on residents, the voluntary sector and staff cannot be overstated. I was shock out of being in a state of mild acceptance about the phrase s114 to deeper understanding of the blunt reality of what s114 means.

And so we come back to the question set by the editor. What should National Government do? Yes, we could argue for more grants or more funding but in a profligate, uncontrolled or inept Council would that really have any demonstrable effect? Or would it provide more opportunity for inappropriate money wasting and ill-conceived vanity projects?

In my opinion the only thing that national government should do is to let local government get on and govern locally and that means lifting the Council Tax cap, currently set at 2%. That way the local electorate will very quickly understand what the financial impact is to them of having an incompetent administration running their Council. Democracy is not always perfect, it can be quite brutal but it does allow local people to make informed decisions on who they want to run their services and at what cost.

Over the page

Over

the

Page by Liz Leyshon

This is the biggest of the big questions for local government right now. When you hear that the Leaders of the previously very secure County Councils are concerned, you know that the issues are huge and very serious.

Inflation, the aborted Fair Cost of Care and increased interest rates have created a market in placements for both adults social care and children’s services that is itself inflationary.

As Council Tax is restricted to 2.99% plus a further 2% Adults Social Care precept, it’s pretty obvious that with some adult placements in our county increasing by 50% and more, the income and expenditure don’t match. And the gap is growing every year.

District Councils are not immune either. With the responsibility for housing and homelessness, and interest rates hitting homeowners and buy-to-let landlords, we are seeing and will continue to see individuals and families losing their homes.

There are other factors too with councils’ commercial investments that have been bringing in much needed income now being hit by increased interest rates and downturn in the High Streets. We also have increases – rightly – in national living wage that will impact further on the costs of domiciliary care and care home workers. And for us in Somerset we have an ageing demographic, a low Council Tax rate and 65% of homes in the Bands A-C, so bringing in considerably less income than other counties.

The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement brought little hope and huge disappointment. Although the Local Housing Allowance is now improved, which will hopefully help with keeping people in rented homes, there was not even acknowledgement of the overall situation for local Government. There’s one more chance, which is the Local Government Settlement, just before Christmas. Whether Michael Gove, as Secretary of State, can influence the Chancellor and Prime Minister remains to be seen.

Rishi Sunak was Local Government Minister in 2018 when he delivered a speech to the County Councils Network conference. I reproduce some of his words here:

“I am genuinely honoured to be your champion in government, and today I thought I’d spend my time to touch on three themes about why I’m incredibly optimistic for what the future holds for County Councils: “Firstly, I’m going to talk about the new fairer funding system. “Secondly, I’ll touch on the crucial role you have in driving social mobility in our country.

“And finally, the vital role you play in helping our society’s most vulnerable.” I would respectfully suggest that the Secretary of State ask the Prime Minister how it can be that he understood the importance of local government in 2018, yet appears to have forgotten all that he learned in his short time as Minister.

There’s very little time left before we see more and more Councils sending out distress signals, all across the country and across the political spectrum. We need cross party working, and national government talking – and listening –  to local government to have any chance of a better, more sustainable future.

Green Page by Martin Dimery

Not long ago I admitted to a friend who had previously been a local government Chief Executive that I didn’t really understand the formula applied by the government when distributing funding to local authorities, to which he replied: “no one does!”

Councils are funded by collecting Community Tax, Business Rates and through direct government funding. Community Tax in Somerset reaps a reasonable yield because we have a favourable distribution of higher band properties, but it is up to local councils to set the levy (or precept) and this is where politics can raise its ugly head. The Conservatives responsible for setting Community Tax at the previous Somerset County Council decided to freeze it year on year in line with their central policies. The consequence was to leave the council over exposed and looking to make draconian “savings” when times got hard. The other problem is central government has restricted councils to a maximum 5% raise in the council tax, nowhere near the recent levels of inflation.

As for the funding formula: does a one size fits all approach to local government funding really work? About two thirds of our budget is absorbed by Adult Social Care and Children’s Services. In Somerset we have a disproportionately large number of retired people and so the demands on the budget are massive, particularly with the increasing cost of care home provision. Children’s Services in Somerset can also be stretched by the need to provide access to schools across a large, rural area. This means maintaining small schools and providing high levels of school transport. There seems to be a disparity between metropolitan and rural funding. Very little is left to maintain anything else- whether street cleaning; road safety; waste disposal; planning; environment; leisure; the arts; bus services, or our network of rural highways which we’re told by the hard-pressed officers “would stretch from here to Alaska if laid end to end.”

The austerity policies imposed by the Tory government of the last thirteen years are at the root of this crisis. Local councils took the brunt of those cuts. Lest we forget- that policy was first imposed by the Coalition with the Lib Dem’s consent.

The divide between rich and poor has grown considerably over the years. Why should the excessively wealthy be given tax breaks they don’t need? Why should small independent businesses pay more tax than massive multi-nationals? Why are we subsidising fossil fuel companies instead of taxing them properly? Why are we allowing so much wealth to be hidden offshore?

The Green Party does not apologise for wanting to reshape the current taxation system to raise more from the extremely affluent and spare those already struggling. In the meantime, the government should look again at the way local councils are funded and find a more appropriate formula.

View From Langport by Sean Dromgoole

Quite the power meeting in Langport Town Hall this week. We have long watched, as fast trains speed through the town from Paddington to Penzance. If we want to join the rush, we have to schlep all the way to Castle Cary or Taunton or Templecombe. That, or surrender ourselves to the magnificent Berry’s coaches that can twice a day spirit us to Hammersmith in an environment better known for its conviviality that its pace.

Wouldn’t it be nice though if an occasional train could stop here, for us, rather than just sailing by?

Prior to Mr Beeching’s reforms in the sixties there were seven stations between Castle Cary and Taunton. Gentle Pitney then had its own station! There were two in Langport. Now it is one of the longest track runs in the country without a single stop. If we could just get one station back…

This thought has clearly engaged our diligent new MP Sarah Dyke. She recently convened, and we hosted, a meeting of all those who have been striving towards getting us a station.

Enter the Langport Transport Group (Google them to see the daunting amount of work done thus far). An incredibly impressive group of consultants who 18 months ago completed the “business case” for a new Central Somerset Station. Our meeting was augmented by David Northey (Ex Network Rail), Mike Rigby (Transport brief for Somerset Council), Alex Laurie of Go-Op, Sarah and her team and us. What emerged was a very clear picture of where we are.

There are two real options, Ricksey Lane in Somerton and the fields behind Brookland in Langport. Of these, by far the stronger, and cheaper, option is Somerton. It is also the case that Network Rail already own much of the land for the Somerton site.

The business case for our station has been completed, and was submitted 18 months ago to the Secretary of State for Transport (currently Mark Harper). It has sadly languished there awaiting a decision. As a proposal, it is considered strong and if it has any weakness, it is that only that no particular service is waiting for such a station to be opened. Step forward the Go-Op Trains who wish to create a new Taunton to Swindon corridor route which could centre on our new station. It is also hoped that some of the “semi-fast” trains (the ones that stop in places like Westbury and Pewsey) can be persuaded to stop here. This would give us a station with 9 to 11 stops a day in each direction.

We heard from Somerset Council that a considerable and successful amount of effort had been expended on getting the new Wellington station started and that their next focus will be on us.

The Secretary of State’s decisions take the form of either “No” or “Yes but” with additional conditions or just occasionally “Yes”. Just now we are in the pending tray. Our status is none of the above and it is for Sarah to use Parliament to resolve this. We look forward with huge interest to progress in this matter.

Sean Dromgoole is the Chair of Langport Town Council

Another speculative development?

More good quality agricultural land will be lost to housing if an application to build on land on the north side of Somerton Road, Langport is given the green light. The outline application (number 21/00311/OUT) would see 100 new houses built on 3.7 hectares of farmland that has been used for arable crops for most of the past decade.

Once again, we see a planning application that is relying on Somerset’s inability to demonstrate a five year land supply to win approval. There is no shyness around this issue. The applicant’s statement makes capital of the fact.

More than most

So here is an interesting fact. Over the past decade Somerset has seen more houses built than any other local authority area in the country except Wiltshire and North Yorkshire (source: House of Commons Library). Yet it still cannot show a five-year land supply. To date we have not heard any convincing explanations as to why there should be such a disparity in the huge numbers of houses completed, and the apparent lack of a five-year land supply. Perhaps this is simply evidence of developers in general gaming the planning system?

Some of the figures relevant to the application are contested. The applicant refers to the Local Plan noting: “at least 374 dwellings should be built in the Local Plan Period. At the time of adoption, 289 dwellings were already committed as such further provision for at least 85 dwellings should be made”.

Huish Episcopi Parish Council (HEPC) point out that in fact some 465 houses have been built already, 124% of the amount planned until 2028.

Infrastructure

The applicant also refers to the town’s infrastructure by reference to a planning application granted on 17 July 2018. Whilst it is true that at the time the officer observed: “It is considered that Langport’s role and function as a Market Town makes it suitable in principle, to absorb further housing growth.” And again: “No service supply issues (e.g. education, healthcare etc.) have been identified in Langport/ Huish Episcopi.” The fact that this information is now five years out of date is neither mentioned nor considered further in the applicant’s statement. HEPC have plenty to say on this subject: “The statement totally ignores the fact that our doctors’ surgery is already 130% over subscribed and our primary school is currently full to capacity. Some residents are already having to school their children outside of our town and village which we think is unacceptable especially for those families with one child in our school and another having to be schooled miles away. Four of our pubs have now closed leaving us with just one in Langport and one in Huish Episcopi.”

The NHS have not actually objected, but have confirmed that the Langport Surgery is heavily over-subscribed and have asked for money from the developers to contribute towards improved healthcare facilities in the town.

For their part, Langport Town Council have backed up everything in the HEPC response. They add that the application does not address the need for affordable housing (no capital A or H). Subtext for the fact that once again a vast estate will be built full of houses that local people cannot afford.

Affordable or affordable?

It is worth noting at this point that the applicant has offered to build 35% Affordable Houses (the government definition with a capital A and H at just 20% off market rates). However, this is increasingly irrelevant to actual affordability. A house that costs £240,000 is as unaffordable as a house that costs £300,000 if you are on the local median salary of £32,916 (source House of Commons library published 22 November 2022).

The development is extremely unpopular with local people. Of 116 comments lodged (a very high response rate), 110 were objections. As yet there is no officer’s report or a date for the application to be heard, but the outcome is clearly something of grave concern to the folks of Langport and Huish Episcopi.

Small change? Short changed?

Last month’s Somerton Town Council meeting was witness to a lively discussion around the state of Somerset Council’s finances. Tim Kerley who is both a town and unitary councillor explained the plight. Money would be short and town and parish councils could expect to be asked to do more. However, they could also expect not to get any funding from Somerset Council to carry out the extra work.

Meanwhile, Somerset Council would be looking to divest assets either to raise money, or simply to get liabilities off its books.

Cllr Mo Fletcher pointed out that actually the council had perhaps been its own worst enemy at times. She pointed out that the Kirkham Street Field Community Trust (KSFCT) has been trying to buy the field at Kirkham Street in Somerton from Somerset Council for over a year. The charity has plans to develop part of it for housing and use the surplus generated to preserve the rest of the field as a community asset.

Mo asked if the charity could now expect the council to transfer the assets to the charity; she added: “But if you had got on with things and sold the field to KSFCT, then they (Somerset Council) would have had money in from this already.”

While Cllr Kerley is not the entirety of Somerset Council, he ended up being the spokesperson for it on the night as Cllr Dean Ruddle had given his apologies. Cllr Kerley did acknowledge that it was a fair point, but the local government reorganisation has held everything up. He added: “I can only apologise but it will happen….”

Wessex invests £25m more in Somerton and the Levels

Wessex Water has launched three projects in and around the Levels which will receive some £25m of investment.

At the Somerton water recycling centre, a £5.2m investment will see a new chemical dosing plant built. This will enable the removal of chemicals like phosphorus from sewage. The money will also pay for upgrades to the electrical systems that help keep the water treatment process running. Finally, there will be what they lovingly describe as a “tertiary solids removal plant”. This is used to remove the more stubborn contaminants that the primary and secondary treatments haven’t been able to remove. It should ensure the final effluent is even cleaner and of much higher quality before it is discharged into the River Cary.

In Langport, a £12m investment in the water recycling centre will ensure the regulatory requirements set by the Environment Agency continue to be met. The work to be done will be similar to that at Somerton. Again, the focus is on phosphorus removal. The phosphorus removal project will include the construction of a sludge tank, tertiary solids removal plant, chemical and alkalinity (to balance the PH level) dosing, as well as improvements to the pumping stations that transfer wastewater around the site and the electrical systems. Again, this is all with the ambition of returning water that is cleaner and of a higher quality to the River Parrett.

Council agrees £3,000 for shed

No, this is not a story about councils wasting money or being frivolous. Somerton Town Council has agreed to provide a grant of £3,000 towards a project known as Somerton Cary Community Shed. Working off the same principles as the “Men’s Sheds” movement, the project seeks to offer two half days a week of activities and socialising to all comers.

The idea first came up in the Somerton Community Plan and now there’s a committee in place and a budget is being put together. A site has been offered and a number of local businesses have already offered support with work or supplies.

Membership will be set at £25 a year and there have already been a number of enquiries. For insurance reasons, the Shed will only be available to those aged over 18.

The ambition is to be a social space where men and women can develop and share skills in a friendly and informal environment. The aim is to provide tools, equipment and facilities so members can get together and be creative and develop skills they may not have had the chance to develop in the ordinary course of their lives.

The hope is it will provide a chance for socially excluded groups or those who are otherwise isolated to find a friendly and social setting to meet others and develop a social network.

The council unanimously agreed to provide the grant which will contribute towards rent and running costs as the project is set up.

Where’s our station?

Money saved from cancelling the second part of the HS2 project is being sloshed around the country to improve rail networks, build new stations and generally improve public transport overall.

In October it was announced that, as part of the funds allocated to rail projects in the South West, money is to be set aside to build a new station for Wellington. The station is expected to cost in the region of £15m and will be paid for by the Department for Transport (DfT).

What was missing from the announcement was any mention of a new station for Langport or Somerton (or somewhere in between). A new station for the area has been under discussion since 2014 and has twice been mentioned in the Budget.

The Langport Transport Group secured funding from local organisations and councils to conduct a feasibility study (more correctly known as “a Strategic Outline Business Case”) last year. The most promisng location was at the ed of Ricksey Lane in Somerton.

The findings were submitted to the DfT in March 2022. At that point the DfT explained that a decision would be made in the summer/autumn of the same year (i.e. 2022).

Despite repeated requests for a progress update, all that the Langport Transport Group have been told since then is that no decision has been madeyet. The group are trying to get a meeting with Sarah Dyke MP to see if some pressure can be applied.

MP gets stuck in

For her part the new MP for Somerton & Frome has twice used am]n opportunity in Parliament to raise the issue. First on the 20 November in response to a statement to the House from Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Jacob Young MP.

The third project in Martock will see a £7.5m investment in their water recycling centre. Here the main work will involve new ferric and alkalinity dosing facilities which will be used to treat sewage by reducing the concentrations of phosphorus. It will also treat odour and help with the settlement of sludge and solids. Sewage sludge treatments will also be upgraded by replacing existing storage tanks and building a new sludge transfer pumping station.

A new facility will be constructed to enable taking samples of the effluent so it can be tested before discharge, as well as a mixed media filter plant and associated pumping station to help with the process of removing solids from sewage.There will also be upgrades made to generators, power supplies, lighting and lifting equipment at the site. All of which will hopefully result in cleaner water and help reduce phosphorus concentrations in the Levels area.

Then when she secured her own (her first) Westminster Hall debate on government support for rural areas she again raided the issue: “Fifty-three thousand people live within 10 km of Langport and Somerton, yet they are without access to a train station. Travellers have to drive 24 km to Taunton or 25km to Castle Cary. For those without access to private transport, the travel time by bus between Langport and Taunton is 51 minutes, and for Somerton it is 62 minutes. There is no direct connection to the rail by bus between Langport and Somerton and Castle Cary, with public transport requiring an interchange. The shortest journey time is therefore around one hour and 17 minutes. Bus routes in my constituency are also under threat, with four routes currently without guaranteed longterm funding.”

However to date their seems to have been little engagement from government ministers. And it is starting to look as if Langport and Somerton have been short-changedonce again over their aspirations for a station.

Octagon could double precept

There is no doubt that the Octagon Theatre is much loved by the townsfolk of Yeovil. A planned £23m refurbishment of the theatre which would see improvements to the stage and a larger auditorium have been greatly anticipated. Good old South Somerset District Council’s (SSDC’s) project management proved to be as robust as ever, and estimated costs had risen to £27m before so much as a spade had hit the ground.

It was to be funded by a £10m grant from the Arts Council topped up with a £17m loan taken out by SSDC. Now that SSDC no longer exists, that loan was to have been taken on by Somerset Council. Yet despite spending £1.7m on surveys and background work, Somerset Council had not actually started work on the new development proper or secured the loans necessary to start work. And now Somerset Council is deep in financial doodoo, making further progress unlikely. And without a plan to continue on the original trajectory, the loan from the Arts Council is in danger of being withdrawn.

All of which is why Yeovil Town Council is looking to ride to the rescue. There is no doubt that the Octagon Theatre is cherished by the townsfolk of Yeovil. When a council meeting was called on 3 October, so many turned up (over 250) that the meeting had to be postponed. When everyone reconvened at the Westlands venue, more than 300 turned up. The vast majority intent on ensuring the refurbishment could go ahead.

Yeovil Town Council Leader Graham Oakes put forward the proposal: “The Council wish to financially support the plans outlined by Somerset Council (originally agreed by South Somerset District Council) and ensure that it progresses in accordance with the support of the people of Yeovil and Somerset as a whole.”

Somerset Council Leader Bill Revans was on hand to explain how empty the council’s coffers were. So what does “financially support” actually mean? The meeting was notable for the complete lack of figures.

However, Town Clerk Amanda Card did remind everyone that there is a process. Yeovil Town Council would need to go to the Public Works Loan Board in order to borrow money to support the project. Firstly the Town Council would need approval to borrow from the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

too. If we take 5% on a loan of £17m, that will leave an annual interest cost of £850,000.

The current total precept of Yeovil Town Council for 2023/24 was set at £1.336m. To fund interest rates alone assuming the council needed to borrow £17m, would see the precept nearly double to £2,186,000. That would be the highest town council precept in the Somerset Council area. And remember that is just the interest due, it takes no account of repaying the capital which would be a further (and substantial) cost to be funded by the precept.

That’s the blacker view of things.

On the plus side

That said, it is worth remembering that the town council precept is not the main element of your council tax bill. For 2023/24 the bill in Yeovil for a band D council tax payer was made up as follows:

Somerset Council

Somerset Council – Social Care

1,449.58

So, if the Yeovil Town Council element of your council tax bill doubled, it would rise to roughly £290. The impact on your total council tax bill would be a rise of £145, from £2,154 to £2299. Any increase is going to be unwelcome in the midst of a cost of living crisis but, as you can see, the impact on overall council tax is not as bad as it could be.

Secondly, the Town Council need to provide details of the proposed financing for the Octagon project and their plans for borrowing and loan repayment, to local residents. And they would need to evidence a proper consultation on the proposed project and any proposal to increase the precept. They would also need to evidence public support to increase the precept because of the proposed borrowing.

So what is Yeovil in for?

With Somerset Council in danger of filing a s114 notice (effectively declaring themselves bankrupt) in the next three months, any nonessential spending will be suspended. If they do file a s114 notice, then the council will not be able to fund anything beyond its statutory service lines. And arts and culture are not statutory services, they are purely at the discretion of the council. So the bottom line is that it is highly unlikely that Somerset Council will be able to provide any substantial funding towards the Octagon project. Even if they wanted to.

That will leave Yeovil Town Council looking to borrow £17m to fill the void. Just to keep the project alive and even that assumes that the Arts Council are still willing to contribute £10m. If the funders for the project and the project itself changes, they are entitled to withdraw that offer of funding.

Interest rates on PWLB loans at the moment are all in excess of 5% regardless of the type of loan or the length of repayment. That is just the annual interest payable on any loan taken. In addition, the council would have to fund repayments of the capital of the loan

Frome Town Council in its time has also funded a number of local projects through PWLB loans, including the purchase of the Cheese & Grain. The repayments on those loans today however only amount to £130,000 per annum on a precept of £1,983,000.

If Yeovil Town Council were to go ahead and had to fund the full £17m, as we have shown here, nearly half of the total precept would be taken up with interest payments on the loan.

We asked Amanda Card, the Town Clerk, what constraints she thought might apply to borrowing to fund the theatre? She told us: “There are no limits on what we would be allowed to borrow. The Council would need to demonstrate that it can afford to repay the principal amount and interest, which will inevitably be funded by Council Tax. Therefore, I believe that the only constraint to affordability would be whether the public will be minded to support the increase in Council Tax –which will be the basis of a consultation with the public which we would need to carry out to evidence that there is public support.”

The question for the townsfolk of Yeovil will not be: do you love your theatre, so much as: how much do you love your theatre?

Leveller® subscriptions

The latest round of changes to the price of stamps is the second price hike this year by the Royal Mail (not the Post Office – they merely sell the stamps). The increase at the start of October was not so great for some classes of post or size/weight of letters.

For us the impact has been dramatic. The increase in the cost of sending out The Leveller to our subscribers rose from £1.85 to £2.40. And that was after a 20p increase earlier this year.

Sadly we have been forced to increase the charge for an annual subscription as a result.

We can only apologise to our subscribers, the new annual subscription will be £35, but it is quite genuinely beyond our control.

If you’d like to take a subscription with us, you can either go to the subscription tab on the Levell.live website or send a cheque payable to Even Handed Licensing Limited, to Great Western House, Westover, Langport, TA10 9RB.

Chamberlin Road homes opened

Four new properties have been completed by Homes for Sedgemoor as part of the Sydenham Garage Project. The new houses have been built as “Affordable Homes” which means they can be rented at 20% below market rates or sold/part-sold for a price that equates to 20% below market rates.

It is also a rare example of homes being built on brownfield land. The homes are on Chamberlin Avenue, and include one six-bedroom property, one three-bed and two two-bed houses.

The Chamberlin Avenue homes have been built as part of a larger project taking four redundant garage sites, blighted by decay that had become a magnet for anti-social behaviour, using the land to create 14 new homes. Homes for Sedgemoor say the new homes are environmentally friendly, with added electric vehicle charging points. Cllr Theo Butt Philip, Somerset Council’s Lead Member for Transformation and Human Resources visited the site saying: “It’s absolutely fantastic to see social housing coming on the scene. To see Homes in Sedgemoor bring on 14 desperately needed houses is really encouraging.”

Meanwhile Homes in Sedgemoor has just started work on the next phase, building more bespoke homes designed to meet the unique housing needs of families who others cannot help.

Wells protest bears fruit

When Fit for my Future announced they intended to close St Andrew’s mental health ward in Wells, there was uproar. Although the beds would not be lost to the county, the decision to move them to Yeovil would leave Wells patients without mental health beds and facing a long trek to either Bath, Taunton or Yeovil.

Anger at the closure was fuelled by a consultation carried out by Fit for my Future which showed a large majority of people were against the move. Fit for my Future ignored the results and made the decision to close St Andrew’s anyway.

Campaigners have been arguing against the bed closure ever since. Emma King from Glastonbury organised a petition against the closure which gathered more than 4,400 signatures. There were protests, radio and TV interviews and a lot of press coverage. But all to no avail.

Not moved yet

Although the beds have still not moved to Yeovil, the decision stands and The Leveller® understands this will happen soon. There have, however, been a number of small concessions to provide some support for mental health patients in Wells in particular, and Mendip in general.

Frome Window Wanderland

Every year the windows of Frome (well, some of them) get something of a makeover. Frome Window Wanderland is a few days of fun which see windows around the town done up to the nines. Participants create window displays for their home or another address in Frome. To make the event more inclusive and accessible, this year the organisers are providing free materials to low-income households and supporting more marginalised individuals to take part. They’re even planning a series of workshops in February to help.

Then from 1 to 4 March 2024, 6-10pm there’s a walking art trail running around the town. Using a map, people wander around town to find the lit up decorated window displays. It is a lovely atmosphere in the evening, with lots of local people coming out, chatting and enjoying each other's displays. Frome Window Wanderland is free to take part and just spectate.

The event brings the community together, inspires creativity and promotes wellbeing and good mental health. It aims to get people outdoors, active and socialising during a time of year when many end up indoors and isolated. Further details can be found on the website: https://www.windowwanderland.com/event/frome-2024/

Joined up thinking

The 126 bus service linking Wells to Weston-super-Mare will run again in the new year following a long awaited partnership between North Somerset Council and Somerset Council. The 126 through service between Wells and Weston-super-Mare was discontinued from October 2022 due to low passenger numbers. Somerset County Council stepped in to save part of the 126 bus service from Wells to Axbridge. However, the council is not allowed to fund services beyond its boundary. And at the time no agreement could be reached with North Somerset Council to extend the service from Axbridge towards Weston-super-Mare. This left students and patients from Wells unable to access either Weston College or Weston Hospital.

Libra Travel, a family-run business from Chilcompton was chosen to run the service on behalf of Somerset Council. They had already supplied services for Somerset County Council, West of England Combined Authority and Wiltshire Council. After a 15-month hiatus, North Somerset and Somerset Councils have finally agreed to jointly subsidise the route, which will operate Monday to Saturday, approximately every two hours. The funding is being split 50/50 between the authorities. The service is funded using ring-fenced Government money from the councils’ Bus Service Improvement Plans. The new service will be operated by First Group. Somerset Council’s Lead Member for Transport and Digital, Councillor Mike Rigby said: “We know losing this important connection between Wells and Weston-super-Mare was a hammer blow to a lot of communities along the route. It’s great we’ve been able to join forces with North Somerset and make this happen, thanks to the Government’s Bus Service Improvement Grant.”

NHS Somerset has agreed that there will be four step-down beds going into Keward Unit in Jocelyn Drive, Wells. Stepdown beds provide an intermediate level of care for patients with requirements somewhere between that of the general ward and the intensive care unit.

The St Andrew’s building will not be left empty as originally planned but will act as an overspill for services at The Bridge, nearby on the same site. NHS Somerset have also assured local people that The Bridge will not close and its services will be maintained at the current level. Finally, Crisis Safe Space will be available in Mendip. Run by Second Step and with facilities in Glastonbury (at the Avalon centre at 1 King Street) and Frome, they offer out of hours support to anyone over 18 in crisis. So, it may be an unpopular decision by Fit for my Future, but there is at least a positive note to end on.

Carnival Parked by James Garrett

This year's Ilminster Carnival, which took place in October, was, said the organisers, "One of the biggest processions we have seen for several years."

The best float was judged to be that entered by the town's own Harlequin carnival club. Its theme - Just Another day in Hollywood.

Harlequin also picked up the prize for best music on a float, while the club's Tracy Norman won the award for Most Outstanding Individual Performance on a Feature Entry.

Some £2,800 was raised on the night, according to Ilminster Carnival Committee (ICC). It acknowledged, "We were so lucky we had a dry and warm night to enjoy the marvellous show everyone put on."

However, that autumnal optimism masks the fact that Harlequin and other clubs on the South Somerset carnival circuit have no secure base for building and storing their floats.

This, they claim, is essential if the carnival tradition is to survive - and yet there seems to be no sign of them finding one soon.

Another club on the southern circuit, Gemini, says it faces eviction from its current premises in January 2025, giving it just one year to find a new home.

Twelve months ago, it all looked so different; a location near Ilminster was on offer from the Dillington Estate where half a

dozen clubs could come together to build and store floats.

Not that the plan was widely supported by the villagers of Kingstone. They were concerned by the noise, traffic and industrial waste they feared would be generated by the factory to be built on their doorstep. Their opposition notwithstanding, however, South Somerset District Council (SSDC)'s Area West planning committee decided last January to approve a planning application for what would, effectively, be an industrial estate in open countryside. The decision squeaked through by the narrowest of margins, just six votes to five. The countryside charity, CPRE Somerset, immediately sought judicial review. Its decision was justified when the High Court ruled that the planners' decision had, indeed, been unlawful.

money had been blown. We were told, "In addition to its employee costs (which are not separately recorded), the Council spent £26,893 defending the action for judicial review."

Thinking this was likely to be rather on the low side, given that the council had also been ordered to pay the CPRE's costs, we asked it to re-check its sums. Ah yes, well...."If you also wish to include any payment ordered by the Court, South Somerset paid CPRE's costs of £47,639."

So SSDC's bad management of a single planning application cost taxpayers £74,532 - three times as much as we were originally told - in addition to the (still-unquantified) staff costs!

While sending out FoI requests, we also sent one to ITC, which made the planning application to SSDC, on behalf of a body called the South Somerset Carnival Park Committee (SSCPC).

The judge ruled that two committee members who had voted on the application had done so unlawfully. One, Brian Hamilton, was also a member of Ilminster Town Council (ITC), which had made the planning application. The committee chair, Jason Baker, was also a leading member of ICC. The CPRE had repeatedly pointed this out to SSDC, only to be ignored.

And, despite vague promises to do something about redetermining the application, that is where the matter remains. SSDC has disappeared and one can't help but wonder if its successor, Somerset Council, might be either too busy trying to stave off bankruptcy to have time to redetermine the application for the carnival park - or too embarrassed to know what to do next.

After all, admissions squeezed out of SSDC's successor council by The Leveller reveal that it spent many tens of thousands of pounds in a failed bid to defend its actions in the High Court.

Using the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA), we asked Somerset Council how much taxpayers'

This was because an application made by a local authority, rather than the SSCPC, attracted a 50 percent discount. How much had been paid, we asked, and by whom?

ITC told us, "As the planning item is still live and we have yet to receive any notification the Town Council has no further comment on this matter."

Unfortunate

Unfortunately for ITC, Somerset Council chose to spill the beans; the cost of applying for the planning permission was £7,932, said a spokesperson for the legal department. This is currently run by Jill Byron, formerly SSDC's lawyer.

Nine months after losing in the High Court the Council claims it is "taking the proper re-determination of this application very seriously." Is it though?

If carnival clubs are to find a suitable homeand the shadow of an industrial estate hanging over Kingstone's villagers is finally to be lifted - surely someone has to show some initiative?

Kingstone parish meeting has for some months been proposing alternative sites to Cllr Ros Wyke, Somerset Council's lead member for prosperity, assets and development.

Clerk Carmel Wilkinson suggested to her, "Perhaps Somerset Council could consider providing some modest assistance, for example via rent guarantees or rent subsidies on small rural barn or industrial premises located near to the respective towns, taking into account the economic benefits of carnival to the local towns that the respective carnival organisers have identified?"

Alternatively, she suggested, "Calls could be made to local businesses to sponsor rent subsidies."

Cllr Wyke's response is, no doubt, eagerly awaited by many people in south Somerset, whether or not they are involved in carnival.

Brewhouse theatre grant under threat

The Brewhouse Theatre is a much loved cultural asset in our county town. Having a theatre is a bit of a status symbol, but also a statement of the importance of the arts to a community. But whether it is Strode Theatre in Street, the Octagon in Yeovil or the Princess at Burnham on Sea, all tend to rely on support in some form or other from their local councils.

The Brewhouse is no different. It too relies on subsidy to keep offering a variety of performances and on occasion to be able to take risks on some innovative acts. The problem with owning a theatre, is that it is hard to slice and dice the auditorium to match events to their likely audience. Concert promoters and touring companies have a much easier task. They may well sell out their performances, but they can pick and choose a venue to suit each one. An esoteric performance may suit a local church hall with 40 seats. But a theatre is stuck with an auditorium of a given size (and the running costs that go with that) and it can be hard without a subsidy, to sell tickets consistently and yet still deliver an interesting programme. That’s hard to do without compromise.

So the Brewhouse was given support by its local district council. First by Taunton Deane Borough Council, latterly by Somerset West & Taunton Council. As the districts were folded into the new Somerset Council, they in turn took responsibility for funding the Brewhouse.

And so it is that Somerset Council is paying a grant in 2023/24 to Taunton Theatre Association (TTA), the group that run the Brewhouse. The grant to support the core operation of the theatre remains at the same level (£132,000) as last year.

And that was all fine until Somerset Council entered its current financial crisis. The problem is that if the council files an s114 notice (declaring bankruptcy) it will only be allowed to fund statutory duties in the immediate future. And its statutory duties do not include the arts.

That could put the Brewhouse grant in jeopardy. A spokesperson for Somerset Council told us: “TTA have been notified of the likely grant position for 2024/25, however this will not be finalised and confirmed until after the council’s budget-setting process is concluded early in 2024. A five year funding agreement between TTA and the council is in place until 31st March 2025.” All well and

good, but it almost certainly cannot be honoured if the council files the s114 notice.

In Yeovil, as you can read elsewhere in this edition, the Town Council are proposing to step in and help their local theatre, the Octagon. So, could the same be done in Taunton? Now that there is a Taunton Town Council, that is a real possibility. But it seems they have yet to consider the issue. We asked the question of the town council. They told us: “As you know, Somerset Council recently approached town and parish councils to ask them to consider what if any assets and services they may wish to take on. Taunton Town Council is currently considering our position on this and we will know more in the New Year.”

Of course no-one wants to see a rushed decision. But with only a few months to run until the next grant is due to be paid, Taunton Town Council have a limited amount of time to reach a decision.

Primarily because any decision to support the Brewhouse will have to be reflected in the town council budget which needs to be finalised in January. If it isn’t, the ability of the town council to act to help their local theatre may be constrained.

Bridgwater Dads offered more

NHS Somerset has launched what it describes as a ‘groundbreaking initiative’ aimed at providing support and guidance to new fathers in the Bridgwater area. They say that mothers receive support before, during and after childbirth, but fathers miss out on a similar level of care and guidance.

The New Fathers’ Project running in Bridgwater is set to change this narrative. The intention is that every new dad will receive the assistance they need to navigate the challenges of parenthood. To kick off this project, NHS Somerset is offering a 30-minute appointment with the health coach team at the Victoria Park Health and Wellbeing Hub. These sessions are open to all new fathers registered with a GP in Bridgwater practices, namely Cannington, Cranleigh Gardens, East Quay, North Petherton, Polden, Redgate, Somerset Bridge, Taunton Road, and Quantock.

Appointments can be booked by calling 01278 720270, with

As we went to press, on 7 December, a “Proper Pavements for Wells” rally was being organised at Wells Town Hall. Protesters wanted to draw attention to the state of the pavements across the historic city centre.

Broken pavements with uneven flagstones are the cornerstone of the complaint. A trip hazard for most, but a major issue for the elderly and frail or those using wheelchairs and mobility devices.

Three neighbours who were fed up with the state of the city’s pavements got together to produce a detailed survey of the pavements and walkways in the city centre. Theo van Hensbergen, Bob Payne and Brian Clarke, an MND sufferer who uses an electric wheelchair have now produced a report that measures each pavement against government standards. The report identified an extensive catalogue

flexibility for scheduling on Saturdays and evenings to accommodate working parents; online appointments are available for those that cannot travel. The project encourages new dads to book in round about the fourth week of the baby’s life, but alternative times are also available.

Dr Joanne Nicholl, Designated Doctor Safeguarding Children at NHS Somerset says: “We understand that babies don’t come with an instruction manual, and that’s why we’re here to offer support to every new dad in the Bridgwater area. Whether it’s your first or fifth child, each baby is unique, and parenting can be challenging, especially when facing other life struggles. Our goal is to ensure that all new dads feel supported during this transformative time.”

The pilot is initially running in Bridgwater but the aim is, if it is well received and successful, to extend this service to all new dads across Somerset in the future.

Proper Pavements Please

of failure, including pavement surfaces and network design. Thirty-five locations were identified as presenting real risk of harm. The authors describe the current situation as a “mobility crisis” and ask Somerset Council to respond as a matter of urgency. Theo van Hensbergen told The Leveller® that reports had been circulated to Somerset Council Highways, the council’s Chief Executive and Wells City Councillors. He told us copies would also be presented at the rally to local Somerset Councillor Tessa Munt and Executive Member for Highways, Mike Rigby. He added: “Tessa and Mike confirmed they will attend and formally be presented with the report at the rally. I have met twice with Tessa, who is very supportive of the need to get things remedied. It is a very hot topic in Wells, with nearly a daily report of someone tripping and falling on the pavement and many disabled people complain about lack

of drop kerbs etc.”

To date there has been no official response but Mr van Hensbergen says most shops have supported the campaign and put up posters for them and initial unofficial feedback suggests city councillors and the Chamber of Commerce are also supportive. The city council are certainly supportive. Clerk, Steve Luck told The Leveller® that he and councillors had received their copy of the report. He told us the report was very comprehensive but noting the real issue will be whether Somerset Council will have the money to do the work. On a positive note he added: “The City Council have agreed to extend the delegated authority we already have with Somerset to include minor trip hazards and defects in the city centre. This will allow our Outside Spaces team to do minor repairs quickly to speed up the response time and to work more closely with Highways.”

Does a good train service affect house prices?

It is often said that a good train service affects the price of housing near to a train station. It’s an interesting idea and some detailed analysis by eXp UK, a platform for estate agents, attempted to find out if it was true. They looked at the 100 busiest stations, then looked at the average house price in the post code area of the station and the performance of the train service (looking at cancellations and punctuality). We should stress that the calculations were made by eXp UK not The Leveller®.

I suspect the results will not tell you anything you could not have guessed. Basically the house prices are what you would expect. Looking at the 20 stations with the best train service performance score (ranging from 93% to 96%), most were in London. And house/flat prices were suitably eye watering. £1.7m for Fenchurch Street, just below a cool million for Liverpool Street and Moorgate. Of course if you were looking to commute instead, it might well be useful to know that Chelmsford was also in the top 20 for performance, but average house prices were a mere £372k by comparison.

Taunton station, poor train performance, high house prices

The best value was Liverpool Moorfields, with a performance score of 93% but an average house price of £108k. But, based on house price expectations, the only conclusion you could draw is that house prices are not affected by the quality of the train service. Youd’ expect low house prices in central Liverpool. You’d expect them to be eyewatering around Fenchurch Street. With or without a station nearby.

This is corroborated when we get nearer home. The only Somerset station in the 100 busiest was Bath Spa. And it was at the bottom of the pile within that list for performance. But, despite having a performance rating of just 76% and 4% of trains cancelled, house prices remained resolutely high. The average was around £465k, according to eXp UK. The fact is house prices in Bath have always been expensive and, no matter how good or bad the train service is, they are likely to remain high.

So all in all interesting data, but I’m not sure it really proves any particular point. So, out of curiosity we asked if they had data from Somerset stations that, inevitably if disappointingly, were not among the 100 busiest in the UK. And very generously they found out for us. So this is a curiosity. It does not, we would suggest, point out any particular relationship between house price and quality of train service: Station

Floods: 2014 Promises Broken

On 4 December, as storms and torrential rain swept across Somerset a number of roads were closed. Somerset Council put out a press release at 4.15pm several hours after the first flooding started, to let people know some (but not all) of the roads that had been closed for flooding.

The Police website referred to the flooding in general terms. Their feed on X (formerly known as Twitter) showed the Environment Agency warnings – but not actual road closures.

Somerset Council have a travel map where you can plan ahead and look at road closured due to road works, but it doesn’t include flooding.

But if you wanted to set out and avoid the roads that were closed, and had been known to be closed for some time, there was no central point of information. The various authorities, just as in 2014, had different bits of the picture, but there was no one in overall control.

Nothing excuses people driving into flood waters after roads have been closed. But the frustration of motorists finding roads closed without warning is understandable.

Some local people will know where the waters rise most rapidly, where there will be floods and as importantly, which roads will be open. But people who are not local do not. There are rarely diversions set up nor is there any advice available on how to get to where you need to get to.

If you are setting out on a journey and you know the weather is bad and flooding likely there needs to be a central point of reference. And there isn’t.

More to the point, this is precisely what the various authorities promised at the end of the 2014 floods at a meeting in a meeting in the Great Bow Wharf in Langport.

Nearly a decade after it was promised, nothing has been done. Somerset Council can complain today that there’s no money left. But they have had a decade to sort this out. And they haven’t.

Tell them you saw it here

The main thing it confirms is that their figures for our train service performance were wretched. The 65% (Castle Cary) and 68% (Taunton) performance score was far worse than the worst logged by the 20 worst performing busy stations (71% for Manchester Oxford Road).

Unfortunately, once again the house prices are what you would expect: Bridgwater the cheapest; Castle Cary the most expensive. Really the relatively poor performance of the trains makes little difference.

It would be nice to see a station with a truly excellent performance rating in Somerset for the sake of comparison. Sadly, it seems we do not have one.

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Continued from p1

and whether opportunities to raise more have been missed. It is perhaps worth reminding ourselves that at a national level, from 2010 until 2015, we had a coalition government made up of the LibDems and Conservatives. Since 2015 to date we have had a variety of Conservative-only administrations in Westminster. Here in Somerset, the picture is similar. The LibDems were in power until 2009, the Conservatives from 2009 to 2022 and the LibDems again from 2022.

It has been suggested that the level of council tax raised in Somerset was insufficient and that has led to the current crisis. But before we take a look at that, let’s look at the income that local government received from central government. Aside from council tax, local government used to rely on grants from central government to fund its activities.

Austerity after-effects

Unfortunately during the coalition government, austerity was the watchword. It was generally believed that budgets were slashed right across government between 2010 and 2015. It continued under the Conservative governments of Cameron and May up until around 2018. But then that is what austerity is all about, isn’t it?

Austerity was supposed to see large cuts in government spending. It is commonly assumed that these cuts were right across government. But this is not actually correct. We looked at the Treasury report on spending allocation by department in June 2010. That showed a total of £342bn allocated across the various government departments.

Government spending set out in the 2017/18 budget papers produced by the Treasury showed a total allocation to government departments of £311bn for the year 2018/19. This is a good year to compare because it is before any distortions caused by the pandemic.

So across eight years of government, five of them a coalition government, spending had been cut by £31bn. Where did the axe fall though? By far and away the biggest cuts were to the Department of Communities and Local Government. That saw a £20.3bn reduction in allocation.

That is two thirds of the total cuts. And the reality is that those cuts did not fall on central government. The Department simply passed on lower levels of financial support to local government. Forcing local authorities to make the sort of cuts that central government was not prepared to make itself. That left just £9.7bn of cuts to be made by central government.

As you can see, what the coalition government did, was to make swingeing cuts to the local government budget, and leave most other departments with flat or only slightly reduced budgets. And those cuts in local government support from central government were the responsibility of both LibDems and Conservatives.

But what about council tax raised in our own back yard?

From 2009 to 2022 we had a Conservative administration in Somerset that kept council tax frozen for several years and was wedded to the idea of keeping council tax low. Has this made a difference to Somerset’s finances today? Has it led to the crisis, to the Council considering an s114 notice?

We decided to take a look at the neighbouring Wiltshire Council and compare it with Somerset. Why Wiltshire? It is a similar size to Somerset (the council area excludes Swindon) with a similar demographic make up. Largely rural and dotted with market towns it should be a perfect comparator. The one difference being that Wiltshire became a unitary in 2010, whilst Somerset retained district councils until the 31 March this year.

While Somerset expects to file an s114 notice in February, effectively declaring bankruptcy, Wiltshire still has a relatively robust financial position. For now at least.

We thought we’d start, for the sake of fairness, at the end of the last LibDem administration in Somerset. At that point both Wiltshire and Somerset were two tier authorities with districts and counties. At this starting point council tax for a band D property if you lived in South Somerset amounted to £1,142.44. That is just for district and county and ignoring the fire service, police and town and village precepts.

At the same time, in West Wiltshire, calculating council tax on the same basis, just district and county added together and for a band D property council tax amounted to £1,162.88.

So at that point, with a LibDem administration having been in power for 4 years Wiltshire was already charging 1.8% more in council tax for a band D property.

Looking back over the past decade, that differential has grown. And here is the crux of the argument. Have the Conservatives at the County Council not been as adventurous as their fellow councillors (also Conservatives by the way) in Wiltshire. And has that contributed to the current financial crisis. We went back 10 years to look at the track record of each council.

In 2013/14 Wiltshire had a tax charge for a Band D household of £1,222.43.

However Wiltshire was by then a unitary council, so had no districts. So to compare apples and apples, and get a Somerset figure, we need to add a district charge to the county charge. For the sake of consistency we’ll stick with South Somerset.

For the same year the tax charge in Somerset for a Band D household was already 16% lower: (made up of £1,027 for County Council and £150.74 for SSDC) £1,178.04.

Even so it is clear that by 2013/14 the legacy of both LibDem and Conservative authorities was that Somerset’s council tax was lower than Wiltshire’s. But equally that the gap between the two had grown under the Somerset Conservatives.

For the next two years Wiltshire Council froze their council tax and Somerset did the same. So that by March 2016 the differential between the two was still the same. From that point on both councils have raised council tax and the gap between the two has narrowed. Today of course both councils are unitary councils so it is much easier to compare apples and apples.

No one is innocent

As of today the council tax for a band D property is as follows: Wiltshire: £1,719.90

Somerset: £1,646.04

Both figures exclude the other authorities such as fire, police etc. This is just for the activities of each unitary council.

The differential is now just 4.4%.

What does that mean in monetary terms?

The extra £72.96 on a band D property that Wiltshire get in council tax is probably worth around £18m a year. That, it must be said, would be enough to close the £19m deficit that Somerset Council is facing this year. It would also make a decent contribution towards tackling the near £87m deficit it is estimated to face next year. Especially when you consider Wiltshire has been charging more than Somerset throughout the last decade. And as Wiltshire has been a Conservative run council throughout that period and Somerset Council the same for all but the last 18 months, the disparity in council tax cannot be laid at the door of ideological differences.

In conclusion, across Somerset the Conservatives do have a case to answer for not raising council tax and the austerity government. But the LibDems equally have a case to answer over the austerity government, and also the fact that when in power in 2009, their council tax too was lagging behind the council tax being raised in Wiltshire.

Post office changes

Changes to the mobile postal service in the villages around South Somerset have not gone down so well with the locals. On the one hand, services that were cut to a number of villages when the Glenville Post Office was closed down by the Post Office have finally been restored. That was after a gap of a year with no service. And during that time the Post Office appeared to be in breach of its service obligations across a swathe of the south-west corner of Somerset. That should see 99% of the population within three miles of a Post Office. As one Somerset customer observed wryly: “the remaining 1% must all live in Somerset then?”

From 20 November the Post Office restored the mobile service to North Cadbury, Buckhorn Weston, Charlton Horethorne, and Corton Denham. These services will operate from the same mobile stop locations as before, with new opening hours. And there’s the rub. Corton Denham gets 30 minutes a week, Buckthorn Weston one hour and both North Cadbury and Charlton Horethorne two hours.

While residents will be glad there is at last some provision, others have been quick to point out the “restored service” is actually very much reduced. North Cadbury resident Peter Ewells explains: “we villagers must be grateful to Post Office for this, even if North Cadbury is going to be downgraded from two or three hours, four times a week to two hours on a Tuesday afternoon.”

Poor postal service in Somerset

Generally though the Post Office network in Somerset is struggling. Poor financial returns and the impact of the Horizon scandal have not made things any easier and large numbers of Post Offices have closed in recent years. Somerton is still without a Post Office and the centre of Frome is in the same boat.

Mobile Post Offices are clearly going to be the future for rural communities. After Post Office services were closed in Odcombe, Tintinhull, Chilthorne Domer, and Melbury Osmond the Post Office have agreed to replace them with a mobile service too. Operated out of Crewkerne, the Post Office explain: “Since the closure of the above services, we have continued to work to identify a solution to restore Post Office services to these local communities. A Mobile Post Office service, which is a tried and tested way of maintaining services to smaller communities. It presents the best possible solution to restore Post Office services to these communities.”

Two communities that used to have Post Offices and general stores, Stoke St Gregory and Shepton Beauchamp, have also lost their Post Office proper. These services are now being operated from a mobile vehicle, but again the Post Office warn there will be what they describe as: “some minor changes to the opening hours.”

More waste at Somerset Council?

Somerset Council (SC) is warning residents on the west side of the county that their recycling and rubbish collection days will be changing in February next year. More than 120,000 homes, mostly in the old districts of Sedgemoor and Somerset West & Taunton, will be affected.

Anyone who’ll be having a change to their collection day schedule will be written to twice before anything changes; the first letter will come in January. Roughly three weeks after the letter arrives, residents will receive a service guide which includes a collection day calendar for the next 18 months.

SC is adamant that everyone must be aware of their new collection day. They say: “crews will not be able to come back for either recycling or refuse if you miss your new collection day.”

The changes come as new collection routes are introduced by SC’s contractor, SUEZ. SC claims the new routes will make rounds more efficient, more manageable for crews while reducing mileage and carbon emissions. The changes, it adds, come at no cost to the council.

Changes to routes and collection days in the former Mendip and South Somerset areas are expected to be introduced in June 2024. Share of the spoils?

All of which sounds perfectly straightforward but begs some questions. Starting with whose idea was the change to the routes and collection days? But, most importantly, given the state of the Council’s finances, the new routes and collections will apparently be more efficient and reduce mileage. In simple terms, that means saving the contractor SUEZ money. So, far from being grateful that SUEZ are not increasing the cost to SC, any decently drafted contract would ensure that SC shares in the benefit of the greater profits SUEZ will be making.

In response to our questions SC’s spokesperson told us: “The changes were proposed by Suez and agreed by the Council. As part of our contractual commitments with Suez they have the flexibility to modify routes to ensure efficient service delivery. Contractual arrangements are structured to ensure a stable and financially sound partnership for the long term.”

Which is a polite way of saying if SUEZ make more money, SC won’t share in the benefit.

There is at least one benefit not just to SC but society in Somerset as a whole, however. The revised routes are expected to lead to a 7% reduction in carbon emissions from the overall process of recycling and refuse collection.

Hedge Row

A long-running dispute between Friends of the Quantocks (FOTQ) and Somerset Council continues. The dispute has been simmering for so long that, when it started, Sedgemoor District Council were the Local Planning Authority. But now Somerset Council have inherited the problem.

At the heart of it is the destruction of hedgerows, something that you might have thought would have been abhorrent to both parties. At least since the floods on the Somerset Levels there has been a general understanding that hedgerows, just like trees, are important for binding the soil and preventing run-off. They also act as important wildlife corridors for bird, insects, reptiles and rodents. So, they are good for biodiversity too. And haven’t Somerset Council declared an ecological emergency?

When FOTQ provided detailed photographic evidence of the destruction of a hedgerow in the Quantocks you might have expected the Council to act. They have powers in these matters under Section 7 of the Hedgerow Regulations 1997.

The hedgerows that FOTQ say have vanished total some 680 metres and are in the vicinity of Merridge Hill. They claim that the removal was an offence under the Hedgerow Regulations 1997. And they say the Council’s Landscape Officer stated that: “the aerial photographs do show hedgerow boundaries existing on the land in the past.”

FOTQ are fed up

FOTQ claim they have been fobbed off with excuse after excuse for not taking action. For instance, that as no-one saw who removed

the hedgerow, there is no-one to prosecute. FOTQ say that this is nonsense. The act simply says an offence is committed by: “A person who intentionally or recklessly removes, or causes or permits another person to remove, a hedgerow”. So, clearly you do not need to know who did it, merely evidence that it has been done.

Then the council suggested that an offence was only caused if the hedgerow was protected. Yet there is no mention of this in the 1997 Act. Since the removal of the hedges there have been floods with run-off from the fields in the village of Spaxton.

So we wanted to know what Somerset Council had to say about all this. Having inherited the problem from Sedgemoor District Council, were they too going to sweep the issue under the carpet? Their spokesperson told us: “We are aware of the concerns being raised by the Friends of Quantocks and are currently investigating a complaint about hedgerow being removed without consent. Our legal advice is that further evidence will be needed before a decision can be made as to next steps. A previous complaint was considered by Sedgemoor District Council, and, on legal advice, it was concluded that no action be taken. We understand the value of hedgerows as part of the Somerset landscape and will investigate complaints and take action where appropriate. The vast majority of hedgerow removal is considered formally through applications, and we would always seek to secure where possible either replacement planting or enhancement of other existing hedgerows to mitigate against any loss. Where it is proved that hedgerows have been removed without consent, again we would usually try to negotiate reinstatement rather than formal prosecution.”

Rooftop Revolution

The Somerset branch of CPRE, the countryside charity used their Annual General meeting on 24 November as a platform to launch their “Rooftop Revolution” campaign which calls for more solar panels to be installed on rooftops rather than agricultural land. The use of good quality farmland across Somerset to house solar industrial sites has been controversial from the start. Today they are so prevalent that there isn’t a high spot in the county that you can stand on without seeing them.

The meeting at Stoke St Gregory was packed – standing room only. President of Somerset CPRE was on hand to chair a panel of experts putting forward the case for using roofs on domestic housing ahead of prime agricultural land.

CPRE have opposed a number of these solar industrial sites, often successfully. But this is no anti-green energy stand. The point they keep making (one that will be familiar to The Leveller® readers) is this. A far better way of generating solar energy would be to use solar panels mounted on roofs. Every property generating its own energy, would reduce the call on the National Grid to supply it. And with the major advantage that it does not take agricultural land out of production. How much good grade agricultural land has been lost to solar farms? You may not be surprised to learn that nobody knows, because no-one thought it worth recording.

Up on the roof

While solar energy firms may argue that a few sheep can graze among the panels, a sight in the English countryside nearly as rare as unicorns, you can hardly grow crops in and around fields filled with solar panels. Which is why, in general, the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) guides development away from the “best and most versatile” agricultural land (excellent to good quality land of grades 1, 2, and 3a). If the use of agricultural land is necessary, the NPPF advises LPAs to use poorer- over higher-quality land. The desirability of using rooftops to generate electricity is all the more urgent because of a decision made in Autumn 2015. Then Chancellor George Osborne reversed a policy that had been a manifesto commitment for Labour and the Conservatives for the previous 15 years. That from 2016 all new build housing would be built to a carbon neutral standard.

Had he not done that, today 5% of our housing stock would already be carbon neutral – and our energy demand of the National Grid, commensurately smaller. And of course, the sight of solar panels on roofs would be much more commonplace. Perhaps with apologies to Voltaire, “pour encourager les autres.”

For now CPRE are asking Somerset residents to:

Please sign their petition (google “Take Action CPRE” follow the link and then click on Rooftop Revolution) calling on the Government to commit to a target for at least 60% of the solar energy required by 2035 to be delivered through rooftop solar.

Contact your MP urging them to become a Parliamentary Rooftop Solar Champion. There are five MPs in Somerset and only the newest one, Sarah Dyke MP, has pledged her support.

Please look at any new housing applications in your area to see if they include rooftop solar. If they don’t, we would ask you to write to the Planning Officer to ask “why no rooftop solar?”. If they do, write to the Planning Officer and say how pleased you are to see rooftop solar on this development!

Uproar in Bruton

Residents of Bruton are up in arms as attempts are being made by King School Bruton (KSB) to acquire the assets of the former Bruton School for Girls for the benefit of KSB. KSB was invited to take over the Bruton School for Girls in March 2022. Despite having a plan to turn the school around, by May 2022 they said it wasn’t working and closed the Bruton School for Girls. By now the directors and trustees of the Bruton School for Girls were all directors, employees or trustees of KSB.

However the old school sits on land and buildings worth £9m. We know this as they were put up for sale with that price tag this summer. Now KSB is seeking to alter the objects of the Bruton School for Girls Trust that will enable it to use the assets for the benefit of KSB.

The change is being consulted on, but will need Charity Commission approval before it can go through.

Emergency or not?

On 7 November, Somerset Council initiated what they describe as an Emergency Road Closure. This was to cover the road known officially as Pretty Oak Main, the connecting road between the A30 junction through to the A303 at Eagle Tavern. Repair work commenced on 13 November. The nature of the emergency? To repair a collapsed section of carriageway. And this particular road closure is such that there won’t even be access for Emergency Services through the site.

The questioning nature of this piece is for one simple reason. The carriageway is indeed partially collapsed. It collapsed in January 2023. Repairs were carried out in May, but only for them to fail shortly afterwards. For nearly the whole of this year the road has been subject to partial closure with vehicles managed through the road section with temporary traffic lights.

As one resident put it: “It is unbelievable that Somerset Council, who are teetering on the edge of becoming insolvent, are racking up hire costs for this particular activity. This is my Council Tax that you are frittering away and nobody at SC was in control of either this repair or costs involved.” It is not at all clear why work that has been repeatedly put off for much of the year, is suddenly an emergency. That said, of course people in Chard and Combe St Nicholas would have liked to see the repairs done right first time at the start of the year. That would have cost less in the long run and not necessitated nearly a year’s worth of hire charges for temporary traffic lights.

When we approached the council in October asking why nothing was happening they told us: “There has been an ongoing safety defect on Pretty Oak Main since May 5th of this year. As there is currently a sink hole in the carriageway, traffic management needs to be in place to ensure that road users don’t try to use a defective road and risk harm. The road surface will need to be excavated and then reinstated so that the road is safe once again; the team are hopeful that resources and weather allow them to be on site before the end of the year.”

Is this The Leveller® effect? We approached the council on 20 October after nothing had happened for five months. By 7 November an Emergency Traffic Order had been issued. Spooky!

Council faces audit

Bishops Lydeard Parish Council is to face an external audit after complaints from a number of residents have been raised with PKF, the External Auditor to parish and town councils in England. The complaint relates to the council’s attempt to get planning permission for a car park at Quantock View. This, as The Leveller® reported at the time, was turned down by Somerset Council. However, the complaint alleges that the council’s proceedings for the car park project lacked transparency and they failed to budget and therefore monitor any budget. Furthermore, the Parish Council failed to minute approval of expenditure during the year totalling £8,678.60 on the ongoing car park capital project.

There is a three-step process to getting a complaint audited. First the auditors have to decide if the complaint is eligible. Step 2 is to decide if it is something the auditors can accept. Step 3 is consideration (gathering evidence etc) and issuing a decision. Missed!

Ironically, the auditors have already failed against their own timetable. Steps 1 and 2 have to be completed within a month of the complaint being received. That was on 25 July. The notice from the auditors confirming that Steps 1 and 2 had been cleared was issued on 16 November!

Now comes the expensive bit – the audit work to determine the complaint. These external audits are not free. Indeed they come at a substantial cost to a parish or town council. When Somerton called in external auditors in 2012 to investigate alleged wrongdoings, it ended up costing the town £60,000.

One of the complainants believes the work will cost £2,500 a day. We contacted the Parish Council for a comment. The Parish Clerk Neal Gossage has only been in post a few weeks, so is essentially picking up a problem he was not involved with. He told The Leveller®: “I am aware that this review is taking place but it will be a few months until the work is completed. PKF will complete the work sometime next year and it is not appropriate to comment on the work at this stage.”

Can they do this?

As Somerset Council gets ever closer to declaring bankruptcy (filing an s114 notice), councillors and officers alike have to start thinking about what that will mean in practice. One of the things it will mean is that spending money on the arts will no longer be possible. Once an s114 notice is filed, spending is only permitted on statutory services. And it is a sad reflection on the state of our society, that the arts are not considered a statutory service. This could have implications for at least two theatres in Somerset; the Octagon Theatre in Yeovil in particular. On 4 October the Somerset Council Executive paused their commitment to a £27m (and rising) refurbishment plan for Yeovil’s flagship entertainment venue. However, instead of withdrawing from the project, they invited officers to come up with new plans for how the project could be financed.

That said, the Executive are desperate not to lose a promised Arts Council grant of £10m was central to the funding of the refurbishment. The dilemma they face is that whatever plans the officers come up with, if the council do file an s114 notice, they won’t be able to proceed.

A spokesperson for Somerset Council told The Leveller®: “On October 4th, our Executive agreed to pause the long-established plans to re-develop the Octagon Theatre in favour of an options appraisal. This was because the current business case could no longer be met due to the increasing costs of borrowing. Since then the Council has declared a financial emergency with further scrutiny of all spending. At present there is no set timeline for the delivery of the options appraisal, we remain in dialogue with DCMS regarding the £10m support grant, whilst also being guided by future decisions of Members in setting a budget for 2024/25.” That sounds like a fair appraisal, but will not be encouraging news for the good folks of Yeovil who are still hoping to see their theatre revamped.

New faces

Two new Deputy Lieutenants have been appointed to assist and support the Lord-Lieutenant in Somerset. That brings the total complement of Deputy Lieutenants in Somerset to 34, covering the whole of the historic county.

The new Deputy Lieutenants are Brigadier Nigel Beacom QVRM TD VR DL from Wedmore, and a man who needs no introduction to readers of The Leveller®, Justin Sargent OBE DL, from Ashwick. Justin has been CEO of Somerset Community Foundation since 2005, driving its growth and development as the leading vehicle for philanthropy in Somerset, and largest independent funder of local charities, community groups and social enterprises. Each year the Foundation, which is based at the Bath and West Showground near Shepton Mallet, provides funding to hundreds of groups and organisations throughout the county. Justin was awarded an OBE in 2020 for services to the community of Somerset. Justin is pictured below receiving his certificate of appointment from the Somerset’s Lord-Lieutenant, Mohammed Saddiq.

Brigadier Beacom

Brigadier Nigel Beacom QVRM TD VR DL is a retired military officer who dedicated 36 years of service to the Territorial Army, now known as the Army Reserve. Throughout his career, Nigel held various leadership positions, including serving as the Commanding Officer of 40th Signal Regiment, Deputy Commander 2 Signal Brigade, and Assistant Commander of Theatre Troops as a Brigadier. He also gained valuable experience working in the Army HQ and MOD main building in different capacities.

In recognition of his contributions to the Reserves, Nigel became the first army recipient of the Queen’s Volunteer Reserves’ Medal (formerly known as the QVRM, now KVRM) in November 1999. He also had the honour of serving as an Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the Queen from 2009 until his retirement in 2012. The new appointments have been sanctioned by His Majesty The King. Lord-Lieutenant, Mohammed Saddiq, notes: “Nigel and Justin bring wide and varied experience to the Lieutenancy in Somerset. They will do a great deal to encourage, support and celebrate the lives and achievements of people and voluntary organisations in our county –and that is what the Lieutenancy is about.”

Need a financial lifeline?

Big enough to cope - small enough to care by Rob Ewers

Chances are, you are one of many people struggling financially in Somerset. You may feel alone, but there are more people in the same boat than you think. Imagine for a moment, if all of them could get together and borrow money from each other, free of stigma, for when life throws up a broken boiler or the car won’t start. Maybe you’ve been made redundant, or your wages or benefits won’t cut it. What’s that next energy bill going to look like? Are you eating three times a day? You could borrow from the common pool of savings and repay everyone at a rate you can cope with. If you miss a repayment or need to change your plan, we won’t break your door down, because we are here precisely for people like you. In fact, we are people like you.

You have just imagined a credit union.

Members of a credit union all share a common bond by living or working in the same area, or working for the same employer. You live in Somerset, so are eligible to join the Somerset Community Credit Union. You don’t even need to be employed or have any savings and, yes, you can be on benefits.

You can open an account for as little as £5 – £4 for your membership and £1 for your savings.

The reason people join together in a credit union is to save regularly. But there is no minimum amount you can save. Why not start with £1 and go from there? If you can save more, great. The upper limit is £15,000, but we certainly don’t expect people to have that lying around unless they’re very lucky.

People power

Your savings when combined with those of the other members create a fund from which members can borrow whenever they need to. To reflect the co-operative nature of a credit union, these savings are called shares.

Savings are what makes us work. Saving is not easy, but we encourage you to develop a habit of saving small sums on a regular basis. It’s surprising how quickly regular small sums build into a nest egg, and every year a small dividend is added – usually around 1–1.5%. So, in practical terms, we are here during the cost of living crisis to provide a lifeline to anyone in Somerset to save as much or as little as they can manage, that they can use to borrow against in emergencies. Our loan rates are affordable and if you get into difficulty we will actually listen and help you. Thinking of using a loan shark? Come and see us instead.

That said, you do not have to be in financial distress to join, save or borrow. Many members are happily employed and just use us as a way of creating their own safety net. We can even partner with your employer to help you save from your paycheck each month. Did we mention, we now have emergency non-repayable grants of up to £500 available? You’ll need to join and have a professional referral, and each application will be assessed case by case, but why not join up? We have offices in Bridgwater and Taunton but you can also join online. Visit our website: www.somersetccu.uk, email info@somersetccu.uk, or call 07732 500501.

Preparing for winter in your local NHS by Paul Hopkins

For a number of years, the NHS has been facing increased demands on its services. But, as the winter months approach, the numbers can start to creep ever higher. From seasonal viruses and illnesses like flu and norovirus, to the impact of the colder weather and of the darker days on our mental health, there are many reasons why more people need support from the NHS over winter.

NHS organisations across the country have been preparing for what is referred to as ‘winter pressures’, and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust is no different.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust is unique in that it runs community, mental health, and learning disability services, as well as Somerset’s two main district hospitals, Musgrove Park and Yeovil Hospital, community hospitals and Minor Injury Units (MIUs), and a number of GP surgeries through Symphony Healthcare Services. This winter, the focus is on caring for people in the right way, in the right place, and at the right time. – and this isn’t always at its hospitals.

While it’s important to go to hospital if you are very ill or need surgery, studies suggest that the best place to recover is at home. The Trust has hundreds of services that can bring healthcare either closer to or directly to your home.

Teams of district nurses visit patients across the county every day, as do support services such as Rapid Response and Discharge to Assess. There are also prevention services such as its homeless

and rough sleepers service, supporting those who need it.

Take the Hospital@Home service as an example. The service provides acute hospital treatment at home, helping patients to leave hospital sooner or avoid a hospital stay altogether, when recovering from an illness or operation, or when receiving treatment.

Patients are monitored by a team of experienced clinicians such as consultants, nurses, therapists, healthcare assistants, and social workers, via telephone, video consultations, and remote digital monitoring devices. They are constantly reviewed, as they would be in hospital, while receiving the highest level of care in the comfort of their own home. The service has cared for more than 1,600 patients so far, and for these patients, being able to recover at home has made all the difference.

Progressive treatments

Of course, there are some occasions where you always need to come to hospital. The Trust’s teams have been constantly improving and innovating some of its services, to try and limit the amount of time patients need to stay in hospital afterwards.

This has led to many procedures or operations being turned into ‘day case procedures’ – meaning you come in, have the procedure, and leave again on the same day. Laser surgery for small bladder tumours, laparoscopic hysterectomies, closure of ileostomy, and even

hip replacements are now all procedures that can be done as a day case. The Trust has also moved some services away from its busy, main acute hospitals, making it easier for people in Somerset to visit when needed. Many of the community hospitals and MIUs can offer services to patients, and there are also standalone sites such as two ophthalmology diagnostic centres, and the Taunton Diagnostic Centre, which has been seeing patients for appointments for over two years.

An ever-growing area where people need more support is through mental health services. Somerset’s Open Mental Health Alliance offers support 24 hours a day, seven days a week – there really is no wrong door when it comes to accessing mental health support. Whether you use the Mindline service as a safe space to talk openly, or refer into the Talking Therapies service, there is always someone available to help. NHS services are ready to care for you this winter, so please do use all of the services available to you should you need them – be that a Minor Injuries Unit, a mental health support line, or A&E for life-threatening illness or injury. This Trust is prepared for winter pressures, and will be here to help should you need it.

Prostate treatment in focus

More than 52,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year in the UK on average – that’s 144 men every day. Around 490,000 men are currently living with and after prostate cancer.

Two initiatives have been announced this month that will see more attention paid to prostate cancer and enlarged prostates. First comes a national initiative that will see men at higher risk of prostate cancer (due to age and ethnicity) being recruited for a screening programme called TRANSFORM. This will use innovative screening methods like an MRI scan to detect prostate cancer, hopefully at an early and more easily treatable stage.

Recruitment on to the programme will be via an invitation issued by your GP practice. The programme will start in autumn 2024 and, although the Department of Health are unable to be precise about its extent, they say “hundreds of thousands of men across the country will be participating”.

£16 million will be invested by the Government for the trial through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and Prostate Cancer UK, who have led the development of the trial, will provide £26 million. Locally though, there is more good news. Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton will start offering a new surgical procedure, called Rezum for the treatment of an enlarged prostate on the NHS. Musgrove will become the first hospital in the south west to offer patients this particular treatment.

The procedure involves steam being injected into the prostate gland to help to relieve symptoms caused by prostate obstruction – a very common problem in patients over 50. The steam is passed into the patient’s body through their urethra. The position of the steam injections is guided by the surgeon, under direct vision using a telescope.

Musgrove Park’s League of Friends kindly donated funds to buy the machine, thanks to its donors and fundraisers. Mr Robert Jones, a consultant urologist at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust told us: “We are pleased to be the first trust in the south west to offer this innovative prostate treatment on the NHS, and we want to thank our League of Friends for purchasing the machine for us.”

Compared to more invasive procedures where patients would have needed a stay in hospital, Rezum is much more comfortable for the patient and has a more rapid recovery. It also preserves a patient’s sexual function, which can be affected by some of the other surgical options, and this can be a priority for some patients when deciding which treatment to go for.

At last – £20m funding for Toneworks!

Somerset Council has recently been successful in a bid (initially submitted by Somerset West and Taunton Council – SWT) for nearly £20 million for the Toneworks (which was bought by SWT in 2020 and is owned by Somerset Council) project from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Communities’ Levelling Up Fund. The £19,987,663 will provide an opportunity for Somerset Council, working in partnership with stakeholders and the community, to transform and sustainably regenerate the nationally significant heritage site land for community use.

It is worth noting up front that the funding has been awarded by central government and does not affect Somerset Council’s financial emergency. The money can only be spent on this specific project and cannot be used for services that Somerset Council delivers. Somerset Council will not be making a financial contribution to this project.

Fabulous fabric

Nationally important, Toneworks in Wellington was the clothfinishing works of Fox Brothers and Co. Ltd., one of the oldest and largest woollen and worsted manufacturers in the South-West of England. It is a rare example of a textile finishing works retaining all its textile working machinery. It originated as a corn mill that was acquired by Thomas Fox in 1796. It was developed throughout the 19th and early-20th century with specialised buildings added in several phases for cloth finishing, dyeing and tentering, together with complex water, steam and electric-power systems.

The cloth was woven at the nearby Tonedale Mill (of which more later) which was also owned by the Fox family.

Toneworks became the largest cloth-finishing works in the South West, employing generations of Wellington families, producing woollen cloth, including fabric used for British Army uniforms. Cloth production ceased in the late 20th century, but the Grade II listed site was exceptionally well preserved. Since then, the premises fell into disrepair and Toneworks was placed on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register – with the machinery and relics of the water and steam power and their survival recognised for their importance and historical significance.

SWT Council secured grant funding for repairs to start bringing the derelict site into better condition. A first grant of £348,420 was received in January 2021, followed by a second of £400,000 from the Heritage Stimulus Fund in October 2021. This paid for specialist conservation contractors, engineers, ecologists and joiners to undertake structural repairs. A third grant of £185,596 from Historic England awarded in December 2022  ensured the most complex and hazardous parts of the site were made structurally stable.

During the summer and autumn of 2023, Somerset Council welcomed more than 300 local people into the site on guided tours which allowed a glimpse at the works that have been achieved to date. The tours provided an opportunity to gather knowledge, memories and understanding about the history of the site from the community in and around Wellington.

SC tries to save Tonedale Mill

Meanwhile, Somerset Council has worked on its bid to preserve Tonedale Mill, currently owned by Mancraft Ltd. The Council has been negotiating with the owner for a number of years to safeguard the repair of the historic buildings. Several legal actions have been taken by the Council over the past few years, but concerns remain over the condition of the heritage assets and the future of the site. A significant proportion of the early-19th-century mill remains, however many of the privately owned buildings have fallen into disrepair and are now registered as Heritage at Risk by Historic England.

In January 2022, SWT served an Urgent Works Notice under Section 54 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 on Mancraft Ltd. As Mancraft Ltd failed to demonstrate its intention to carry out the necessary works, SWT with financial support from Historic England, appointed contractors who completed the works ‘in default’ to ensure the Grade II* listed building was appropriately protected.

Somerset Council is in the process of reclaiming the subsequent costs from Mancraft Ltd.

Business, legal and finance

Legally Speaking

Selling at Auction

It has become increasingly popular for land and property owners to sell at auction. Whilst selling your property at auction may not always be the best approach, the key advantages of doing so include:

●the speed at which the transaction can be progressed;

●the certainty that, once the hammer falls, the buyer is less likely to pull out of the transaction; and

● there is typically no chain making the timeframe for completion more certain.

If you are considering whether going down the more conventional route of selling your property on the open market is right for you, an auction can provide an alternative path that may offer you greater opportunities to sell. The following provides you with a brief insight into selling your property at auction:

Before the auction

You will need to choose an appropriate auction house to provide you with advice and assistance throughout the auction process. Once chosen, your auctioneer will value the property and consult with you in setting a guide price (the price at which the property is expected to sell and what you would like to achieve) and reserve price (lowest price you are prepared to accept).

by Michael Sewell

buyers and their legal advisors so that they can make an informed decision on whether to bid for your property. The legal pack should include the title deeds, draft contract documentation, search results and replies to standard property enquiries.

At the auction

What happens on the day of the auction will depend on whether your property auction is being conducted as a traditional method or modern method.

A traditional method means that the auction is conducted in an auction house which you can attend. Contracts are exchanged as soon as the hammer falls following the last successful bid and the buyer pays a deposit (often 10%) on the day.

A modern method often provides for an online auction, where bidders have a set amount of time (sometimes weeks) to bid before the auction closes. Contracts are not exchanged on the day but at a later date providing more time to the buyer, with a non-refundable reservation fee being paid immediately.

Completion after auction

You will then need to provide certain information, including plans, photographs, and details of any defects in title to your property, to the auctioneer so that your property can be included in the auction catalogue and placed on the appropriate marketing websites online. Another important step is to instruct a solicitor, with the necessary expertise and experience in auction sales. Your appointed solicitor will prepare the legal pack and make this available to the prospective

If your property is sold at auction, completion usually takes place 28 days from the date of the auction when the remaining purchase price will be paid together with any additional fees for the cost of searches included in the legal pack, notice fees and other out-of-pocket expenses. Do not panic if your property is not successfully sold at the first auction, you can relist it for the next auction (or accept any post-auction bids). Your solicitor will be informed if your property is sold at auction, who will then deal with completion on your behalf on the date agreed at auction.

If you are considering selling your property at auction or if you have any questions in respect of property matters or information relating to auctions, please contact us on 0800 862 0442 or email enquiries@pardoes.co.uk and one of our solicitors who would be happy to assist.

Lindsey’s

Lines by Lindsey Wright

That Autumn Statement National Insurance

Ahead of the budget all the talk was of tax cuts. Anyone might have thought there was the prospect of an election looming in 2024? While inflation has come down, one target that Mr Sunak can claim as being met (the others are looking a shade more wobbly) unfortunately growth is looking stagnant. So the heavily leaked prospect of the Chancellor giving tax cuts would make some economic sense as well as electoral. Of course if tax cuts did stimulate economic growth, it would do no harm to the government’s chances in a General Election.

So about those tax cuts. Well if you thought by tax cuts he was referring to cuts in actual taxation (income, corporate, inheritance etc) you’d have been either confused or disappointed, quite possibly both.

Because the cuts came not on taxation per se, but the rates of National Insurance. The changes will apply to both employees and the self-employed but given the opportunity to keep things simple, the Chancellor did the opposite.

After a year (2022) in which the rates of National Insurance turned and turned again, with rises, decreases and then the addition of an NHS levy, it perhaps should not have been a surprise that this was the area the government chose to change for its big headline cut. From 6 January 2024 the rate for Class 1 National Insurance contributions will be cut from 12% to 10%. This is for employees. Which no doubt many employees will welcome as it will, genuinely, put more cash in their pocket.

However we should stress there is no benefit for employers. The employers NI rate remains the same as last year when it was raised from 12% to 13.8%.

Needless to say the change will impact on an employer’s admin though. The change to National Insurance will require updates to be made on your payroll software. You will need to do this before running the January payroll.

The bands for National Insurance, the level above which you start to pay it, and the level above which you only pay 2% instead of the full 10% have been frozen. This is both good and bad news.

Freezing the level at which you start to pay National Insurance at £12,570 will have the effect of pushing more people into paying National Insurance, especially as wages have risen this year and are likely to continue to do so.

However by freezing the upper limit, there is a notional positive impact. As wages rise, more people will pass the upper threshold of £50,270 and will be paying more of their National Insurance at 2% instead of 10%.

Finally there is even better news for the self employed. The compulsory Class 2 NI contributions paid by the self employed is to be abolished. Anyone with profits between £6,725 and £12,570 will be able to access benefits such as a state pension via a National Insurance credit, but without having to pay their Class 2 contributions.

And there’s more. The Class 4 rate for self-employed individuals will reduce from 9% to 8% with effect from 6 April 2024.

So lots for everyone who isn’t an employer. The one thing the Chancellor did aim at employers was negative. A cut in the amount of tax free dividends you can receive from £1,000 a year to £500 a year. Oh well..

Lindsey Wright is a partner in Blue Lias Accountants of Somerton

Whisky Galore

Is there a more comforting thought, as the nights draw in and the chill fingers of winter settle on the fields, than a glass of single malt in front of a roaring fire? The Danes have a word for it (Hygge) but they don’t have the whisky. Indeed, as far as your humble correspondent is concerned, nobody does outside of Scotland.

Others have tried but somehow nothing really comes close. Last year I tried a perfectly decent and somewhat surprising whisky from the Cotswolds. Distilled in Shipton on Stour it was perfectly drinkable, quite decent really but somehow also not the same.

The ‘single’ in ‘single malt’ simply means that the whisky is the product of a single distillery. A blended whiskey might come from several distilleries and would include cheaper grain whiskey in the mix as well as malt.

A single malt by contrast can contain whisky from many different casks, but all of this whisky must have been produced by one distillery. And of course you can get single cask single malts too!

It’s true that blending a whisky will almost certainly give you more consistency than you can get in a single malt. But it is in the variety that there is surprise, joy and interest.

Personal

Of course whisky is a very personal thing. Not least because even within Scotland there are so many flavour variations, nuances of smell, colour, and viscosity all of which make each one the character that it is.

For a drink that is conjured up from so few basic ingredients, (water, malted barley and yeast) the variety is dazzling. The explanations for the differences are legend. A matter of science or religion? That is a personal question. That the colour is imparted by the wooden casks in which a single malt is left to mature is easily demonstrable. The way in which the shape of the still might impart magical properties to the end product, much harder to prove. But all are part and parcel of the mystique.

For me the silky smooth whiskys of Speyside with their hints of orchard fruit, lovely as they are do not quite cut the mustard. Nor would I head for the spice and toffee notes of the Campbeltown peninsular.

The Highlands throw up a full range of robust flavour. Brora was magnificent before it closed down and the few remaining bottles became stratospherically priced. But then in Perth you come across the tiny distillery of Edradour producing an amazing single malt that conspires to taste of brandy! But even the well known Highland brands, such as Talisker and Oban have a structure and flavour that is right up there.

The Holy Grail though, for me at any rate, is the Islay whiskys. Smokey, peaty and considering there are so many on one island, magical in the variety they offer. As I said up front, whisky is a very personal thing. If you haven’t tried Ardbeg before, then your life is incomplete. And for a special treat, try their Ardbeg Uigeadail (just don’t try and pronounce it!). Smoke and peat yes but somehow with notes of caramel thrown in too. It promises richness and smoke but delivers an unexpectedly smooth flavour caressing the soul as it slips down.

My Somerset Home

Somerset Lives by Stephanie Harris Plender

This month: Vickie Robbins, Executive Director, Taunton Brewhouse

It’s a busy time of year for theatres across the land with Christmas and pantomime productions. This December Taunton Brewhouse is staging a new musical adaptation of The Christmas Carol, sponsored by Taunton School, followed by The Wayfarers’ Dick Whittington pantomime in January.

It’s been a year since Vickie Robbins took over the reins at Taunton’s arts venue, after previous jobs with Taunton Association for the Homeless and Somerset Art Works. She has been in conversation with Stephane Harris Plender.

What's your background, Vickie, and your connection with Somerset? How did you get involved with the Brewhouse?

VR: My life story! I moved to Somerset in 1992 with my then husband. I worked in the insurance industry for a long time and from there journeyed into accounting, into the charity finance area. I came here to the Brewhouse two years ago as head of finance, then when the previous director left, I applied for and got the job. I've always loved theatre. I've been a performer since I was about eight, growing up in Oxfordshire, and then here in Ilminster I did a lot of amateur acting and writing as well. Drama has always been my passion. In fact, my first involvement with Taunton Brewhouse was on a writers’ programme which I successfully applied for before I worked here. There were eight of us on the course and over 12 weeks we all wrote a piece of work, extracts of which were performed with professional actors and a director. And then, just after that, I managed to get a job here.

we know what's happening with local authorities all around the country. So we're working towards a much more self-sustaining business model. We've really achieved that quite well in the last year, given that we haven't been able to get any of the big Arts Council grants. But is Somerset Council funding contingent on you adopting any particular strategy?

VR: No, we're very autonomous. We do present them with a business model but there's no red tape. There are several strands to what we do because obviously we're a charity as well as being a business. Our main stage hosts a lot of touring acts. We get some good names, and we do get some sellout shows - we have good comedians, good bands. We get a lot of tribute acts. Touring theatre seems to be starting to come back so we get drama as well, and a lot of family shows. So that's bread and butter, but for our charitable aims and our charitable strategy going forward, we want to engage the community. We've got this big building, we've got lots of resources. So where we can find small pots of money, we can turn that into bigger projects. For example, we've been working with the town council - they give us a small amount of money, we turn that into a huge range of autumn and winter activities for young people to come and do for free.

You've been at the helm a year now, what have been the challenges?

VR: There was a lot of government funding to support businesses and charities during COVID. But then that all stopped. But our audiences weren't returning as they had. Everyone was obviously still a bit nervous because of the pandemic. it took another year for us to rebuild our audience numbers and, thank goodness, we’re back to 2019 pre-Covid levels, ahead of the trend nationally. So financially it's been a huge challenge to keep going. We've applied for Arts Council funding four times in the last two years and not got it.

You used to get district council funding – has the unitary Somerset Council stepped up to the mark?

VR: They have continued our funding currently, yes. The funding we get from the local authority is probably less than 10% of our overall turnover. A lot of our income is ticket sales, room hires, cafe income and bar income. What we get from the local authority is really, really valuable. But

This December, for instance, our gallery is opening for paper birds making, Christmas snowflake making, willow figure making, all for free, to bring that community that might not otherwise be able to afford to engage. We've also just launched our warm spaces, which is a national thing. But we've again got a pot of money from Taunton Town Council, we're providing activities every day of the week, Monday to Friday, drop in, free, you don't have to book. It's to try and bring people out of their homes where they might otherwise be socially isolated. That's going on for three months. So we take small amounts of money and turn it into big community activities.

Reading your last annual report, I was very struck by one part of your mission where you say, “we value bold artists and bold ideas inspiring locally and globally”. I'm wondering how much appetite there is for artistic ambition in terms of bringing people through the door?

VR: That's an interesting one. We used to be able to have access to pots of funding from the Arts Council or whoever, to be able to commission new pieces of work. We're not able to do that now. But what we do have is the bricks and mortar so if the local theatre performance company want to spend a week researching and developing a new piece, we say you can have our studio space for free. We also then bring in pieces of work in from either local, regional or national, unknown theatre companies. Our studio space seats 60. So it's quite a nice, small, intimate place where a new performance can just be done without the concern of having to fill 350 seats. You don't want to play that big auditorium with only 20 people in it, it doesn't feel very nice. So we let them have the studio space. We do pay them, we don't pay them tons of money because we can't afford to. But it gives them the opportunity to create and develop new works. Sometimes we get really good audiences for it. Other times not so much.

So it’s been a challenging first year for you as Director but encouraging. What do you think has made the difference?

VR: I don't know. I think we have such a lovely staff team here. Our staff team and our volunteering team are so welcoming, and so wanting to help people, that people feel comfortable here. And it's becoming a nice environment. This reception area, the Westward Room, was only renovated last year. The studio was renovated this year. And we're bringing things to the main stage according to what our community wants.

Vickie Robbins - photo credit Aisling Magill

Guy the Grape

by Guy Smith Reflections

As the year draws to a close it’s a good time to look back on an interesting and occasionally challenging year. The duty on wine went up by 20% and so the bottles that we all buy in shops and bars are now more expensive than ever before.

Somehow the government told us that this was a Brexit benefit and that they wouldn’t have been able to do this in the EU. Hmmm. In a small historical footnote that I think should be noted, the right to make small amounts of cider for sale without paying tax was removed.

This has been the right of farmers since time immemorial and was something that the Brexiters claimed that the EU wanted to take from us. It was a right that caused Cider Riots here in the eighteenth century and its maintenance was celebrated by the building of the Burton Pinsent Monument (pictured) in Curry Rivel. If you have never been there, you must see it .

In better news, this will be a record English grape harvest. The biggest so far was 2018 which produced around 18 Million bottles. I wouldn’t be surprised if we went over 20 Million this year, possibly much more. This is down to a combination of weather and the planting of between one and a half to two million vines every year for the last five or six years.

Defra tell us that grape growing and wine making is the only growing agricultural sector in the UK. It’s all very exciting but with anything growing that quickly, there will be casualties on the way but the future is certainly bright. Quantity doesn’t always mean quality but having just come back from the winery, we’re quietly confident that we’ve made some lovely wine.

Happy Christmas to all Levellers everywhere and enjoy some lovely (hopefully English, preferably Somerset) wine. In moderation of course……

My Somerset Home

AtThe Farm Gate

by Graham Walker

Getting stuck

Contrary to what the reader may suppose, I have not taken leave of my senses and decided to write about sealing messages in envelopes, or gluing together small model aeroplanes. As you may have noticed, due to the very wet weather we have experienced, there is rather a lot of mud around, which can be the bane of the tractor driver’s life when a tractor becomes stuck in very deep mud and becomes immobile. Modern monster tractors, such as you will not see on School Farm can avoid this problem by virtue of their sheer size, meaning they can sink through the mud and their massive wheels will come into contact with something hard underneath. The downside of this is the colossal damage caused to the soil, which at the end of the day is every farmer’s basic raw material. One only has to look at the fields where maize has been grown, where there are ruts full of water over a foot deep to realise what I mean. It can take years for soil to recover from this sort of damage. Beside the road that leads from Kingsbury to Martock there is a prime example of a field that has grown nothing but weeds for about three years after being damaged during maize harvesting. King Charles has spoken of this problem, and his estimation is that a lot of agricultural land will become unusable in the space of fifty years.

Here at School Farm we favour much smaller tractors which do not inflict such great damage on the soil. When I did my training at Pershore college, we were told that if it was necessary to have a tractor larger than about sixty horsepower, it should be mounted on caterpillar tracks to spread the weight and reduce soil damage. The downside of using much smaller tractors is that if you drive into very deep mud, you do run the risk of becoming stuck fast. When a tractor does become stuck fast, it is pointless to sit there spinning the wheels trying to get out, as the tractor will only dig itself in deeper, compounding the problem. One of my former workmates where I did my apprenticeship managed to do just this with a small Massey Ferguson 35 tractor. By the time he gave up and realised the tractor was not going to come out in the normal way, the tractor

was half buried with mud two thirds of the way up the rear wheels. His boss took one look and told him to remove the battery for safe keeping, and there the tractor stayed until the spring, when conditions were dry enough to dig the tractor out.

The normal thing to do when a tractor is stuck is to hitch another tractor on with a chain or wire rope to try to pull the stuck tractor out, first making sure the assistant tractor is on hard ground! Even this has to be done cautiously, as if too much force is used it is possible to snap a tractor in half where the ring of bolts joins the engine to the gearbox. Happily I have never actually done this! We would like to wish all our customers and readers a happy and not too muddy Christmas.

Helen Walker and husband Graham own School Farm and the farmshop at Muchelney which you can contact on 01458 251 127

My Somerset Home - In the garden

Echinacea by Jane Earthy

Your local garden centre is the perfect place to find something for the gardening enthusiasts in your life this Christmas. Perhaps a new spade or fork, gardening gloves and kneeler, some secateurs even. Obviously we do our family Christmas gardening shop at Monkton Elm Garden Centre and there’s never a shortage of ideas. One of the most useful gifts my husband gave me one Christmas was a large ball of twine! I think a range of seeds in attractive packaging together with some plant labels and waterproof marker arranged in some seed trays would hit the spot especially for someone just starting out on their gardening journey. I’m giving this sort of ‘mini hamper’ to someone who has finally got their first allotment after a 10 year wait. I shall also include a gardening diary for recording their progress, and perhaps some gardener’s hand cream for those dry chapped hands they will surely end up with. The list is endless really. Monkton Elm also have a large stock of Christmas trees but if you haven’t got your yet – you’ll need to get your skates on. Don’t forget if you are buying a cut tree it should be left under cover outdoors in a bucket of water until much nearer to Christmas, and the same goes for potted trees. Once inside, keep well watered and away from heat sources such as real fires and radiators. For long lasting needle retention, choose a Nordman fir or Fraser fir. The Fraser fir is particularly suitable for smaller rooms, as it is slim. The branches are stiff and therefore able to support heavy ornaments and it has a beautiful citrussy scent.

Happy Christmas everyone, I hope you have a wonderful festive season x

For information and questions about the garden contact info@monkton-elm.co.uk

Nordmann firs

Gardening for the Mind

With so much rain about these days it’s wise to change the way we perceive it. Have you ever noticed the smell of rain? Or rather, the smell of the ground and air during or after the rain? That sweet, fresh scent is called petrichor.

In 1966, Gerber and Lechevalier, were conducting research on the smell of soil when they discovered a compound they named geosmin. This name comes from two Greek words, ‘geo’ meaning earth, and ‘osme’ meaning odor. The bacteria Streptomyces griseus, which is commonly found in soil and freshwater environments, was found to be the source of geosmin. This bacteria is the basis of some forms of antibiotic we use today.

by Alison Hayward Smell of wet soil

The antibiotic streptomycin was discovered in 1943 by Albert Schatz, and others. During World War II, there was an urgent drive to find antibiotics that could fill the gap left by penicillin, which was ineffective against tuberculosis (TB). Schatz discovered streptomycin from an isolate of Streptomyces griseus originating from heavily manured compost soil and another from a chicken gizzard. Traditional medicine containing antibiotics has been around and used in local remedies for millennia without knowledge of its active principles. One of the earliest connections between Streptomyces and traditional medicine is the Red Soil of Jordan, which has been used as a cure for skin infections for millennia.

Humans are really sensitive to geosmin. Our noses can detect geosmin at less than 5 parts per trillion! That’s 200,000 times more

sensitive than a shark is to blood in water. Why humans are so sensitive to it and why we love it is unclear. Long before we knew the science behind petrichor, the scent was being extracted from the earth for use as perfume in Kannauj, India. The makers of the perfume call it “mitti attar” or “Earth’s perfume.

This evocative fragrance is created when compounds from plant oils, accumulated in soil and rocks, are mixed into moisture droplets and released into the air – think of it like rainy day aromatherapy. As well as the benefits from the airborne plant oils themselves petrichor has calming and mood-boosting properties.

Scientists have hypothesized that geosmin may help deter predators and attract organisms that spread bacterial spores. Recently, they were able to demonstrate that geosmin deters fruit flies from eating the materials that Streptomyces grows on.

Additionally, a new study out of Sweden shows that Springtails, tiny arthropods, are attracted to geosmin.  After being drawn in by the smell, bacterial spores stick to springtails, which spread them through their movement and digestion. Researcher, Mark Buttner, says it’s “analogous to birds eating the fruits of plants. They get food but they also distribute the seeds, which benefits the plants.”

Next time you encounter that earthy smell, let it be a reminder of the fascinating and extremely valuable bacteria that thrive in the ground beneath your feet. You might be listening in on an ancient type of communication between bacteria and the creatures that live with them in the soil.

The garden in December

It may be that the garden looks like it has had a sprinkling of icing sugar, the skies are grey and really the warm indoors is much more enticing, but there are jobs a plenty to do in the garden in December. If you haven’t already, clear the wilted stalks of the summer’s peonies and crocosmia. You’ll probably see early signs of new shoots coming through when you’ve clipped them down to about an inch off the ground.

Dahlias should be lifted. Always best to leave them to after the first frosts but we have definitely had those now! So lift them, dry them off and then store in a cool (but not cold) dry place for the winter. If you can break the ground, it is as good a time as any for planning fruit trees. Get bare root trees ideally, you can pick them yup from a decent nursery, and pop them in with some manure. And on the subject of fruit trees, now is the time to prune apple, pear and plum trees.

And on the subject of pruning, December is a good month for pruning wisteria and supporting the direction of growth you want with wiring to support it.

If you have mulched areas of the garden, December is a good time to check the levels of mulch pull out any stray weeds and top it up. Keep an eye on fig trees and bays. They can take a light frost. Bay trees tend to get their leaves “burnt” by an especially hard frost. It is worth wrapping them in fleece to keep the worst off.

If you’ve got geraniums or pelargoniums under a cold frame or in a greenhouse. Make sure they get plenty of air. They are particularly susceptible to mould and once it gets onto one plant it tends to spread rapidly to the others. Its worth making sure they get at least an hour of fresh air each day if possible.

It is worth raking up the last of the leaves. If left they become a safe harbour for slugs which you don’t really want to be giving safe havens to!

And don’t forget to top up your bird feeders. They’ll thank you for it.

My Somerset Home

Cobbs Corner

by Jane Rodger

Cobbs "secret " gift

Many recipes are closely guarded secrets! The Cobbs secret is our fabulous super booster health slice. As much as I appreciate and understand the concept of keeping closely guarded recipes a secret there are certain times in life when sharing such a splendid recipe can only bring joy and a smile to many faces.

It is true that the famous seedy fruit loaf is the mainstay of Cobbs. I have of course been warned that my sales of such a lovely snack will plummet if I share the mystical secret.

But no! I believe that I will prove such cynics wrong!

I work with the belief on what I lose in cake sales I will gain in ingredient  purchases! So without further ado here is a super Xmas gift from cobbs with our very best wishes for a healthy, happy and peaceful festive time and New Year ahead.

You need

One x2lb loaf tin lined with baking parchment

600grams of cobbs fruity mix

50grams chopped crystallised ginger

200grams of cobbs omega seed mix

100grams soya flour

100grams of porridge oats

100grams of spelt flour

1 tsp cinnamon

500mls any cereal or nut milk

Simply pop everything into a bowl give it a good mix and pour into lined tin. If the mix is too dry add a bit more milk to create a soft, easy to tip into the tin, mix. Leave to stand for an hour or so then bake at 160 c for approx 45 minutes to an hour until golden and firm. As you can see the cake is sugar, egg and fat free making it a super healthy snack. Not too sweet, it gives sustained energy and makes a fab lunch or breakfast on the go. Try popping a slice of cheddar or spread some cream cheese on top.

Xmas at cobbs!

Bespoke hampers from only £10.00

Jane's hand made balms, hand cream and famous rose and sandalwood moisture cream

Nickys homemade Xmas puds cakes and mince pies

And many original gift ideas!

It works!

It is also vegan friendly and low in gluten though not gluten free. To make it gluten free use gluten free oats and Doves plain gluten free flour in the same quantities as above .

One of my customers who lives in Finland, to whom I gave the recipe adds a teaspoon of turmeric powder for added health benefits. Turmeric is a brilliant anti inflammatory for our joints. Adding an extra teaspoon of cinnamon will help to balance blood glucose levels. Adding a teaspoon of ginger powder will pep up blood circulation.

The possibilities are endless!

Motoring

Behind the Wheel

by David Young

The new BMW 5-Series requires no introduction

Some cars are important because they introduce new innovations that change the way we think about the automobile. Some cars are important simply because they are old or rare or tell an interesting story. These are the exceptions rather than the rule though. The everyday truth is a little more mundane. In most cases, what makes a car important isn’t some great technological leap forward, instead it’s the little improvements that continuously move

the goalposts and force all the others to keep up. And that, in a nutshell, is why the BMW 5-Series is the world’s most successful executive saloon. Now in its 8th generation, the newly unveiled BMW 5-Series is more dynamic than ever, features a wealth of digital innovations, and even adds all-electric drive to the line-up for the very first time. And all those little tweaks and improvements are what keeps it at the top of the tree.

represents the heart of the interior redesign. Its frameless glass surface is slightly inclined towards the driver and consists of a 12.3-inch Information Display behind the steering wheel and a Control Display with 14.9-inch screen, merged into a single high-resolution digital display. Many of the car’s functions are controlled via the touchscreen which can also display videos via YouTube.

The exterior design of the latest generation reinterprets the sporty elegance of a BMW 5 Series Saloon, its proportions making the character of the dynamic business saloon instantly recognisable. Road presence is affirmed by its athletic

If the mood takes you, there’s even an AirConsole feature that allows the screen to double as a games console. It boasts a range of racing, sports, quiz, simulation, strategy, jumpand-run and puzzle games that use your wirelessly linked smartphone as a controller. Personally, I don’t really see the point of a games console in your car, but then maybe I don’t spend as much time sat in traffic as other people so I could be completely wrong. The control panel on the centre console has also been redesigned to make it simpler and more intuitive. The iDrive Controller, gear selector switch, start/stop button, My Modes buttons, volume control and other buttons are clearly arranged on the centre panel. A wireless charging tray is also included as standard on all models. There are also newly designed seats, an enhanced automatic air conditioning system, a new steering wheel that can be specified with a heating function, and for the first time in a 5-

Series there’s even a panoramic roof on the options list. Comfort is definitely not going to be an issue.

Standard engine options feature a four-cylinder petrol engine with 48-volt mild hybrid technology. The engine is the latest from BMW and uses lots of clever technology to make it as efficient and clean as possible.

In the new entry-level BMW 520i it generates a healthy 208bhp and, coupled to a new 8-speed Steptronic Sport transmission as standard, takes 7.5 seconds to accelerate from zero to 62mph. The BMW 5 Series range has also expanded further with the introduction of the BMW 530e and BMW 550e xDrive plug-in hybrid models, and the all-electric i5 eDrive40.

The plug-in versions combine the four-cylinder petrol engine with an electric motor to offer an electric-only range of up to 63 miles and 55 miles respectively. The 530e option delivers a fraction under 300bhp while the 550e generates a whopping 489bhp. The allelectric i5 eDrive40 does away with the engine all together and replaces it with a 340bhp electric motor on the rear axle. This one can sprint to 60mph in 6 seconds and should be good for a range of up to 360 miles between charges.

That’s probably more than enough choice for most drivers but BMW seems to disagree because none of those models sit at the top of the range.

That accolade is currently reserved for the i5 M60 version with its massive 601bhp dual-motor powertrain, all-wheel drive, and sub-4 second sprint time. That’s a lot of performance for a car that offers zero emissions and a range of up to 320 miles as well. The BMW i5 M60 xDrive also features individual design touches to make sure it looks the part too. A front apron with black surfaces, larger air

intakes, side skirts, unique 20-inch alloy wheels, boot spoiler, and a rear apron and diffuser are an obvious sign of its sporty character. Also set to join the line-up in spring 2024 is the next generation of the BMW 5 Series Touring which like the saloon, will be available with all-electric drive for the first time, as well as with plug-in hybrid drive and pure combustion engine drive.

Available in three trim levels in the UK – M Sport, M Sport Pro, and the exclusive BMW i5 M60 xDrive – the new BMW 5 Series Saloon is available to order now with prices starting from £51,000 OTR.

Culture and Events

Black History Matters

In the wake of his four-part BBC documentary, Union, Professor David Olusoga comes to the Cheese & Grain in Frome to explain why black history matters.

Today it is at risk of being trivialised into some sort of insipid culture war. Which statues stay, which get torn down. Fought over by people whose allegiances may be coloured by a populism of left or right, rather than any profound historical knowledge. Even so, having history as front page news is a benefit of these culture wars. It forces us to ask difficult questions, confront difficult truths. Whether that be the role of Britain in industrialising the slave trade, or taking a deeper dive into African and Asian cultures where mass enslavement has been conveniently overlooked.

There is no better time to have someone of the stature of Professor Olusoga on hand to look at roots of the ‘history wars’ and asks where they might lead us. David Olusoga is a historian, writer and broadcaster. He’s the presenter of the BBC show, A House Through Time and the author of Black and British: A Forgotten History. As Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester, David is an expert at examining what history reveals about contemporary society.

David Olusoga is at the Cheese & Grain, Frome on 12 January 2024 at 8pm. Tickets £24.50; Box Office 01373 455 420. There will be a book signing at this event, in association with Hunting Raven Books, Frome.

Wassail,Wassail

A traditional Somerset Wassail will be held in the walled orchard at the Grange in Street this January. Entrenched deep into the fabric of what Somerset is, a wassail comes with music, dancing, storytelling and apples galore.

The Langport Mummers will grace the afternoon with music and dance. Jane Flood, a storyteller extraordinaire, will immerse guests in traditional Somerset stories and the legendary Les Davies (Westcountry Man, CBE) will be master of ceremonies. The oldest tree in the orchard will be blessed as part of the ceremonials to encourage a good crop in the year ahead. Sam Cullen, Head of Programmes at the Alfred Gillett Trust explains: “Wassailing is all about the apples. Our Annual Wassail ensures we start the year with a bang! Everyone is welcome to help us celebrate with music, dance and merrymaking. Visitors are invited to create and bring along their finest decorated wassail crowns, and prizes will be given for the best apple-themed headdress.”

The Grange is the headquarters of the Alfred Gillett Trust, a Somerset heritage charity and home to a collection of more than 150,000 objects, ranging from 200-million-year-old fossils to 200 years of shoemaking and Clarks shoes. A new museum is being built to house the collections and, while building work is underway, the Trust will be making the most of its orchards and gardens to host events.

The Somerset Wassail takes place on 14 January 2024, 2-5pm at The Grange, Street. It is free to attend and no booking is required. Further information https://alfredgilletttrust.org/whats-on/

Stand up for the Creative Innovation Centre

With an auditorium that is made for stand up, Genius Events are putting on one of their stand-up specials at the Creative Innovation Centre. Perfect timing for lightening the mood ahead of the Christmas break!

The headline act is Cally Beaton who will be known to many for her appearances on BBC’s QI, and her Radio 4 contributions to the unbelievable truth, Saturday Live and the Museum of Curiosity. Cally is a natural storyteller who can be relied on for intelligent, distinctive and punchline-rich, razor sharp, material.

Supported by Jake Baker and Michael Legge, the evening will be compared by Pam Ford.

The gig is at the Creative Innovation Centre in Taunton on Saturday 16 December. Doors 7.00pm. Start 8.00pm. Tickets £18 on the door.

Sky Diary by Paul

Moon Phases

December-First Qtr 19th

Full 27th

January-Last Qtr 4th

New 11th Planets

Saturn is growing fainter and sets before Midnight now while Jupiter shines brightly all evening until the early hours. Venus rises before dawn and can be seen during and at Sunrise.

Constellation

Orion the Hunter rules the night, this unmistakable sight with the three Stars in a straight line forming his belt with the glowing cloud of dust the Great Orion Nebula looking like His sword just beneath. Visible to

Adamson

the naked eye this area is a stellar nursery where new Stars are being born.

Celestial Events

The Winter Solstice is on December 22nd when we have our shortest day and longest night.

Somerset Stargazers monthly meetings are on the last Wednesday of the month except December for details please contact For details visit: somersetlevelsstargazers@hotmail.com

The return of the NewYear's Eve Ceilidh

It's back again! After a 20-year hiatus, the New Year's Eve ceilidh in Priddy returns to Priddy Village Hall.

The Mid Somerset Oxfam Group is bringing back the fun, promising rollicking music from the Backroom Band. There’ll be a caller for the evening so anyone can join in and get the hang of things as it goes along.

There’ll be hot and cold snacks from Wells-based Fresh and Good, to keep everyone on their toes and on towards the early hours. To keep the good spirits flowing they are hoping to be able to offer lift-sharing to the event. This will not only reduce the carbon footprint but also make it easier for people without transport to come along.

The ceilidh will raise funds for Oxfam, with £10 tickets (cash only) available from the Oxfam shops in Wells and Glastonburyand Anna's Attic, High Street, Shepton Mallet. Or you can email NYEPriddy2023@outlook.com

Doors at Priddy Village Hall will open at 7.30pm on Sunday 31 December, for dancing 8pm-midnight. Please bring cash for drinks and food.

Napoleon

Ridley Scott’s new epic film of the French Emperor is coming to Strode Theatre. A biopic on a grand scale the film charts his life through his military career, political ambition and the way in which he completely overturned French society. His legacy lives on today. Scott makes the relationship with Josephine the central strand running through the film showcasing the Emperor’s volatility and addictive personality.

Filmed with Cecil B DeMille proportions it encompasses no fewer than six major battle scenes which drew praise from critics. This gives chance to explore his visionary military tactics which it does with some panache. It is certainly a spectacular effort and if you’ve been entranced by Rod Steiger’s performance in the magnificent 1970 film of Waterloo, you’re likely to enjoy this.

Napoleon is depicted in a warts and all performance by Joaquin Phoenix with Vanessa Kirby as Josephine.

Napoleon is at the Strode Theatre in Street on Saturday 30 December at 6:3p. Tickets £8.80, £7.80, £5 Box Office

01458

442846

Culture and Events - Christmas guide

A round of 73

A new book by Langport author and cricket commentator par excellence, Anthony Gibson, recalls a Somerset golfing genius and his “truly astonishing” achievements.

Mr Gibson reminds us that Somerset has produced many fine professional golfers over the years: the Whitcombes, the Bradbeers and Brian Barnes, to name but a few. But none, surely, can have played such a remarkable round as a little known local boy from the village of Berrow who, in 1912, took just 73 shots to play Burnham and Berrow GC’s championship links, using only his putter. He was Ernie Foord, the eldest boy in a family of seven. His farmworker father, Walter, helped lay out Burnham’s original course, opened in 1891. His mother, Sarah, was the club’s first steward. Ernie himself became professional in 1900 at the age of 16, following hard on the heels of the great J H Taylor, five times Open Champion. In 1903, Ernie set a course record of 63, some 12 shots better than what was regarded as par for the course, the equivalent of a 58 or 59 today. The magazine Golf Illustrated described the round as “possibly a world’s record”.

Like many other Berrow boys, Ernie had started his golfing life as a caddy, shouldering increasingly large and heavy bags of anything up to 20 clubs, there being no limit on the number of clubs a golfer could deploy in those days. The strain on boy caddies, some as young as seven, was immense, and in 1912 Ernie decided that it was time to demonstrate that a vast armoury of clubs was not necessary to play good golf, by playing the course using just his putter. Bernard Darwin, legendary golf correspondent of The Times takes up the story: “The news of a remarkable golfing achievement has lately come from Burnham in Somerset, Ernst Foord, the professional, armed only with a single putter, gave a start of five holes to an 8-handicap player and beat him by three holes up and 2 to play, completing the round in the score of 73 strokes. This is a truly astonishing score, as Burnham is neither a particularly short nor a particularly easy course.” Words which provide the inspiration for the title of Anthony Gibson’s new book, “Golf’s Most Astonishing Round – The Story of Ernie Foord, Somerset’s Unsung Genius of Golf”.

But that 73 with the putter was not the end of the Ernie Foord story. In 1913, he beat his hero, J H Taylor in a 36-hole match, before emigrating to the USA in 1916, where he soon became one of the leading professionals in the country, landing the plum job of Pro at Oakland Hills GC ahead of all of the great names in American golf at the time, and presiding at the 1924 US Open Championship.

“Golf’s Most Astonishing Round – The Story of Ernie Foord,Somerset’s Unsung Genius of Golf” is published by Charlcombe Books and is available from anthonygibsonbooks.co.uk and all the usual outlets.

Rebecca Caine

International soprano Rebecca Caine accompanied by Nathan Martin on piano is performing at the Cedars Hall in Wells early in the New year. She will sing numbers from musicals written by the likes of Bernstein, Bucchino, Guettel, LaChiusa, Sondheim, Weill and Yeston.

Caine is a Canadian singer, trained as a soprano. She started out as an opera singer but has made her name in musicals, especially the role of Cosette in Les Miserables which she performed for the RSC. Her operatic credits include roles in The Coronation of Poppea, Lulu, The Magic Flute and La Boheme whilst working for English National Opera, Opera North, Glyndebourne, Nice, Glimmerglass and Scottish Opera.

She recently received rave reviews for her performances in The Light In The Piazza in the US and Conor Mitchell's opera Abomination at the Southbank Centre, London. Whatever else you may say about her, she is most certainly versatile!

Rebecca Caine performs at the Cedars Hall, Wells on 13 Jan 2024 at 19:30. Tickets £22 Box office: boxoffice@cedarshallwells.co.uk

Christmas Art?

With Christmas around the corner, Black Swan in Frome is playing host to 15 carefully selected artists and artisans. Each maker offers unique items, among the best that the South West has to offer. This event provides a veritable Christmas shopping list market.

You can expect to find stylish homeware, handmade jewellery, personalised presents, ceramics and prints. And all will be displayed in the beautiful Long Gallery, with its wooden floors and beams and huge windows. The Black Swan team will create a festive atmosphere in the historic building, transforming it into a picturesque and magical space to pick up unique gifts for your friends and family.

The Christmas Market is at the Long Gallery, Black Swan Arts, Frome until 31 December. Open Monday to Sunday: 10am to 4pm, admission free.

Somerstock announces

2024 line-up

Somerstock, the music festival held in Somerton, has announced its line-up for summer 2024. The festival, which will be held next year on the evening of Friday 12 and then all day on Saturday 13 July, will be headlined by super-star jazz-funk band Shakatak. Each day will bring its own special vibe to the festival.

Friday’s entertainment runs from 6pm to 11pm with food stalls and bar. The evening will be headlined by The Charlie Miller Band, with its dance and soul sounds, with support from local favourites Twisted Vinyl, as well as passion and power from Bristol-based blues, rock and soul band Florence & The Bare Souls. And…. there’ll be a surprise act announced nearer the time.

Saturday will see 10 other acts performing throughout the afternoon on two outdoor stages and a big top marquee from 1pm to 11.15pm.

Acts include Matt Owens (formerly of Noah and the Whale and now with the Delusional Vanity Project), Harri Pick, Standalone Empire, Cabarats, Get Loose, That Brit Pop Band plus Grizzly and the Grasshoppers. Also back by popular demand are Classic Rock Revival, reggae from The Bare Foot Bandit and Somerstock’s own magical mixer, DJ Slightly who will provide a warm-up set of mixes from popular tunes before the climax with Shakatak. There’ll be children's activities, retail stalls, food stalls and bars throughout the afternoon and into the evening.

The Somerstock site sits at the edge of the town and provides onsite parking and camping facilities. There are a wide range of ticketing options, including a family ticket and children under 12 go free. Advanced tickets are available at cheaper rates. A very limited number of the lowest cost Tier 1 tickets will be available to purchase online now (if they haven’t already sold out!). Tier 2 tickets will be released as soon as Tier 1 has sold out, with Tier 3 full price advance tickets available nearer the time.

Check the festival website www.somerstock.co.uk for all the details, to buy tickets or to contact the organisers.

Local lass at David Hall

Kitty Macfarlane is a songwriter and guitarist from Somerset is back in her home county. Her debut album Namer Of Clouds gained her instant recognition. It was one of The Guardian’s Best Folk Albums of 2018 and has seen airplay across BBC Radio 2, 3, 4 and 6 Music. Last year she was invited to guest-present two episodes of BBC Radio 4’s Tweet of the Day and Kitty performed live in session on BBC Radio 2 at the beginning of 2019.

Cerebral and topical, honest and immediate, her lyrics are carefully crafted while her melodies evoke a rich visual imagery with an ecoeye.

From the starling murmurations on the Somerset Levels to the lowly eel’s epic transatlantic migration she is steeped in Somerset lore and her songs remind us constantly of mankind’s relationship with, and responsibility for, the wild.

Kitty Macfarlane plays the David Hall in South Petherton on Saturday 13th January 2024 at 8:00 pm. Tickets £18 Box Office 01460 240340

Culture and events

Stolen Moments

The next Stolen Moments event will be on Saturday 13 January 2024. Keith Harrison-Broninski welcomes the great jazz pianist, John Law, for a two piano event! They'll be playing jazz arrangements of prayers from around the world and throughout history, ranging from 8th century Hebrew to the Taizé monastic community in central France.

To enjoy these jazz concerts come along to Christ Church, Frome 3-5pm. Entry is free.

Taste ofYeovil

The third and final public programme for the Story of Yeovil project will look at the “Taste of Yeovil”. Following on from the “View of Yeovil” and the “Sound of Yeovil” the project captures stories of ‘food culture’ over time, in Yeovil and the wider community, with exhibitions, a recipe book project and events.

‘Welcome To Our Home’ will run at the Yeovil Art Space from 20 January to 30 March and brings together a display of art created by artists and community members, inspired by the food of the diverse communities in the town. It will look at the role that those food cultures play in our lives and heritage.

This is all alongside historical objects from private contributions and the South Somerset Heritage Collection. Further heritage displays

‘Welcome To Our Table’ can be found at Yeovil Library and online in Yeovil’s Virtual Museum for all to enjoy.

Taste of Yeovil highlights the togetherness and the culture of sharing. Yeovil Art Space can be found in the Quedam Centre at 1315 Vicarage Walk.

Kunsthalle Bruton!

Hauser & Wirth are celebrating their Swiss heritage with an exhibition at their Somerset Gallery with what they describe as a “playful presentation of over 20 artists, including Phyllida Barlow, Martin Creed, Nicole Eisenman, Isa Genzken and Rodney Graham” to name but a few.

The company was founded in 1992 in Zurich by Iwan Wirth, Manuela Wirth, and Ursula Hauser.

The multidisciplinary exhibition is inspired by the notion of a traditional Kunsthalle, literally a paintings hall, that mounts temporary art exhibitions. It is contrasted with an art museum where the exhibitions are more or less permanent.

In Somerset Hauser & Wirth conceived their own Kunsthalle in Bruton as a place to showcase groundbreaking art and explore contemporary issues with a broad audience. For this exhibition the entire site has been taken over to provide a platform for discovery and interaction, extending to all five galleries, outdoor sculpture and a collaborative events program.

Many of the artists featured within the exhibition, such as Martin Creed, Rashid Johnson and Pipilotti Rist, have lived and worked in Bruton as part of the gallery’s longstanding residency program, drawing inspiration from Durslade Farm, the local community and surrounding Somerset landscape.

The exhibition runs to the 1 January and is free to enter. Hauser and With can be found at Durslade Farm, Droppin Lane, Bruton. The gallery and gardens are open Tuesday – Sunday, 10 am – 4 pm

Organ Recital in Martock

Jonathan Delbridge is to give a receital at Martock Church. He has had a varied career. He taught himself to play the organ at an early age and has recently been awarded a Fellowship from the National College of Music for his thesis entitled “A Study of the Piano Music of George Frederick Pinto”. He holds a DipMusTh(ICMA) in music theory and has a Fellowship Level Membership of the ICMA Guild. He performs regularly and has given concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall and regularly broadcasts for BBC Radio from Truro Cathedral. He also performs frequently in the more intimate setting of Somerset churches such as Crewkerne, North Perrott and Ilminster.

Jonathan will give his Organ Recital on Saturday 20 January 2024 at All Saints Church, Martock at 7:30 pm. Tickets: £10.00 from Guardianstickets@gmail.com /07547

213992/Martock Gallery/ Martock Newsagent (cash only) or £12.00 at the door (cash only).

Frances Barkley: Bridgwater

Seafarer by J B Seatrobe

Som Snip SS18 13.11.23 c680w

Frances Barkley had a fascinating life, participating, in the late 18th century, in several long oceanic voyages, including circumnavigations of the globe, unheard of for a young British woman at that time.

Born Frances Hornby Trevor in Bridgwater in 1769, she was christened in April 1769 at St Mary’s, Bridgwater, though she later mistakenly wrote that this took place in 1772 in nearby Otterhampton Church, where her father, Rev John Trevor, was rector. After her mother, Jane, died in late 1771 and was buried at Otterhampton, John remarried in 1773, to Harriot Smith of Bridgwater, daughter of its Collector of Customs.

The family moved, first to London, then to various places on the near Continent, ending up at Ostend in 1783, where John was appointed minister of its new Protestant Chapel. Although Harriot and her own four sons returned to Bridgwater, never rejoining the rest of the family, Frances remained in Ostend.

There, in September 1786 in Ostend, Frances met Charles William Barkley, Captain of the Loudon, a 3-masted full-rigged ship, and by October they were married in her father’s Chapel. She ‘enjoyed’ a unique honeymoon, accompanying her new husband on his voyage to the Pacific coast of North America on the renamed Imperial Eagle Setting out on 24 November, it was no pleasure cruise, as they had to battle stormy seas; Charles’ serious illness, and what Frances described as “the unprincipled intentions” towards her of the Chief Mate and Second Mate.

After rounding Cape Horn, they reached Hawaii in May 1787, and the coast of what is now Vancouver Island at Nootka Sound in June. Sailing down the coast Capt Barkley named a large Sound after himself, and other features after his wife, including Frances Island & Hornby Peak.

Later that year they reached Macao, China, where Frances remained while the ship went to Canton. Here they bought a fine bamboo chair in the Canton style, which, fortuitously, has survived, and is in the Museum of Vancouver.

Matters went awry in Mauritius in early 1788. While Frances stayed there, Charles sailed on to Calcutta, only to discover that his ship was impounded there because of alleged unlicensed trading in China, and he also lost his cargo and finances. The couple were forced to stay marooned at Mauritius for a year.

Eventually they left on an American ship, only to be shipwrecked off France, before finally arriving at Portsmouth in November 1789, having survived an overall voyage of three years.

They emigrated to Calcutta in 1791, but their plans were scuppered when Charles’ older brother John (whom Frances described bitterly as their ‘evil genius’) persuaded him to make a return trading voyage to Pacific North America and Asia. Frances insisted on coming, so the family set sail in late December 1791 on the Halcyon

Disaster struck in April 1792, after Charles had been seriously ill, when their baby daughter Patty died on board, and was buried in Celebes (now Sulawesi, Indonesia). They stayed for a time in the Russian Far East, before setting off for Alaska. Then on to Hawaii, where Frances was delighted to see turkeys, which she claimed were the descendants of those they ‘introduced’ to the islands in 1787.

After stops in China and Indo-China, they again had problems in French-run Mauritius in 1793, where their ship was confiscated, and all were taken prisoner, possibly because France and Britain were by then at war. After their eventual release, they made their way home, reaching Poole Harbour in late 1794. Their long, eventful second voyage was finally over.

Back in Britain, the family had no settled home, living in Bath and elsewhere. Charles died in May 1832, and his widow, by then in Sussex, died in May 1845. Both were buried in Enfield Church. Frances’ claimed ‘records’ - including being the first white British/European woman to set foot on various parts of the world, including the North American coast, and the first female to openly circumnavigate the world – are impossible to verify. However, this Bridgwater woman’s seafaring achievements were impressive and deserve commemoration in Somerset.

Culture and events

Culture and events

Walter’s Words of Wisdom

For the festive season we thought something a little more obscure and perhaps cerebral from the multitudinous sayings of Walter Bagehot might be just the ticket. That still small voice of calm? The power of meditation? Our hero advocates for stillness to let the creative juices flow.

Imagination

Still more evidently is the imagination requisite in expressing deep emotions, even common emotions, or in describing noble objects. Now, it seems to be a law of the imagination that it only works in a mind of stillness. The noise and crush of life jar it.

[“Lord Brougham”, National Review, July 1857]

You can find out more about Walter Bagehot, his life and thoughts by visiting langportheritage.org.uk

This month’s sodoku

Geography lesson at the Brewhouse

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s stylish Viennese Gala starts the New Year at the Brewhouse Theatre with a twist. The twist being that a lot of the music will be coming from a little further east. Actually quite a lot further east in some cases. Yes there’ll be those Johann Strauss II favourites without which a Viennese gala would not be complete: the Thunder and Lightning Polka, Emperor Waltz and The Blue Danube. But this year the orchestra will be joined by

folk singer, Ruslana Lotsman to cover a selection of specially arranged traditional Ukrainian folk songs. In fairness a good chunk of Ukraine used to lie within the boundaries of the Austro Hungarian Empire.

And of course Ukraine is still on everyone’s mind. It will particularly be on the mind of the BSO Chief Conductor, Kirill Karabits, who hails from Kyiv. Even so there is musical generosity on display as a number

Carols by Candlelight

of Russian composers have also been added to the bill.

You can enjoy pieces from Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov as well as three of Tchaikovsky’s most famous ballet waltzes from Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker and Swan Lake

The Viennese Evening is at The Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton on 4 January 2024.

Tickets £28.50 or £31. Box Office 01823 283244

Imagine the nave, a great ship of seats, towering pillars and the famous scissor arches of Wells Cathedral. And within an atmospheric calm created by over 3,000 candles glancing light off the old stones as they were meant to be seen. Soft twinkling lights sparkling from every conceivable angle, the warmth of the flames and the flickering shadows thrown across the vast space.

As night falls the tallow sparkles creating a timeless and sacred atmosphere that embraces the true spirit of the season.

Once again this year the cathedral is offering three carol concerts by candlelight with performances on Tuesday 19, Wednesday 20, and Thursday 21 December.

You can immerse yourself in a collection of carol classics sung by the world renowned Wells Cathedral Choir. Their soaring voices , enough to raise anyone’s spirits up to the vaulted rafters, accompanied by festive readings and poetry from a special guest.

Allow yourself to be transported to a realm of beauty and joy.

Share in this treasured tradition, where the power of music, spoken word, and candlelight unite to create an unforgettable celebration of Christmas within the awe-inspiring walls of Wells Cathedral. The concert is a benefit in aid of Wells Cathedral.

Carols by Candlelight is at Wells Cathedral on Tuesday 19, Wednesday 20, and Thursday 21 December at 7pm. Tickets offering a view of the stage range from £33 to £54 Booking via the website https://www.wellscathedral.org.uk/your-visit/whats-on?event=10833892

Last month’s answer

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