News

Wembdon Parish Council have organised another training session in the use of defibrilators, provided by the South Western Ambulance Service. This will take place on Thursday 11th July at 6pm in the Parish Centre, Church Road.

Everybody is welcome to come – no booking needed – just turn up. No previous knowledge is needed, but if you have been to a previous training session, this will be a chance for a refresher.

There are three defibrilators in Wembdon Village: outside the Parish Centre, outside the Cottage Inn, and outside the Village Hall.

Openreach are planning to replace a telegraph pole on Wembdon Hill, which will require the road to be closed between the junctions with Wembdon Orchard and Hollow Lane for the duration of the work. The closure is expected to start at 09:30, and to last for a maximum of 6 hours.

Full details can be found in the official notice of closure.

Residents in the affected section should still be able to access their properties, and a pedestrian route will be kept open through the work area.

For further information about the works being carried out please contact Sunbelt Rentals on telephone number 0370 050 0792 quoting reference number ttro261543N.

The latest edition of the Parish Paper has arrived from the printers, and a copy will be delivered to all the households in Wembdon in the next few days.

If you think you should have a copy, and haven’t received it by the end of May, please contact our clerk with your name, address and phone number, and he will sort it out for you.

As usual, there will be some spare copies available at Wembdon Village Hall, the Parish Centre, the Cottage Inn and Greenway Garage. Or you can read it online.

Openreach are planning to replace a telegraph pole on Wembdon Hill, which will require the road to be closed between the junctions with Wembdon Orchard and Hollow Lane for the duration of the work. The closure is expected to start at 09:30, and to last for a maximum of 6 hours.

Full details can be found in the official notice of closure.

Residents in the affected section should still be able to access their properties, and a pedestrian route will be kept open through the work area.

For further information about the works being carried out please contact Sunbelt Rentals on telephone number 0370 050 0792 quoting reference number ttro261543N.

Flood Wessex (part of the Environment Agency) have written to us:

“It has been an exceptionally wet autumn and winter in Somerset. Between October and February, catchments such as the Axe and the Brue have seen their wettest period on record, and the whole county has been affected by extreme rainfall events. Hundreds of properties have been flooded in dozens of communities, either from surface water, groundwater or fluvial flooding.

“Together with our partners, Somerset Council and the Environment Agency have been working closely together to respond to flooding when it occurs, and to support communities to recover. As climate change makes wetter winters and extreme weather events more likely, community resilience is more important than ever, and we will continue to support communities to be as prepared as they can be for flooding.”

They have produced two new guides: a flood action guide with preparedness information, and a recovery guide for those recently affected by flooding.

Reporting flooding

We have added some links to the home page of our website, and further information can be found on our Reporting Flooding page.

Funding and Grants

• The Government’s Flood Recovery Framework is used in exceptional circumstances to support councils and communities following severe flooding. This has been activated for the areas most affected by Storm Henk. Somerset Council have opened applications from residents or businesses who have been affected by flooding between 2 – 12 January. The closing date for applications is 29th March for Community Recovery Grants, or 31st March for Council Tax Discounts, Business Rates Discounts and Business Recovery Grants. Flood Recovery from Storm Henk (somerset.gov.uk)
• Households that were flooded between 2-12 January may also be able to apply for up to £5,000 to install Property Flood Resilience measures as part of flood repairs, and farms that have suffered uninsurable damage from Storm Henk may be able to apply for grants up to £25,000. Applications are not yet open for these schemes.
• Somerset Prepared provide grants of up to £5,000 for communities to purchase equipment that will help them to better respond to emergencies. For more information, please visit https://www.somersetprepared.org.uk/get-support/funding-support
• There are also grants available through a Wessex Water scheme: https://www.wessexwater.co.uk/visit-and-learn/funding

(Information supplied by the Environment Agency)

Wembdon Parish Council have received complaints from members of the public that dog poo bags have been left next to, and even inside, the grit bin on Wembdon Hill. This is both inappropriate and a health risk.

If you have witnessed bags being left there, and/or know the names of the culprit(s), please contact the Parish Clerk. If you wish to remain anonymous, you can phone him on 07859 911204.

If you have been a culprit, please dispose of dog poo appropriately from now on. There are litter bins nearby, which you can use for dog poo, provided that it is securely bagged. Alternatively, you can use one of the many red dog waste bins around the Parish. Better stiil, TAKE IT HOME, and put it in your black bin!

There will be temporary traffic lights on Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th March on Wembdon Rise, between Homburg Way and Inwood Road. This is to allow Openreach to carry out “Utility Asset Works”. A pedestrian walkway will be provided through the works.