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News
roundup
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Somerset Council has launched a new consultation to ask local people for their views on where they live and the services the council provides.
The 2024 Resident Survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete and the results will be used measure progress against Somerset’s priorities and shape future services.
Time is running out for Somerset residents to have their say on possible changes to a scheme which offers financial support to working-age adults on low incomes. The deadline to respond is 1 October.
In November 2023, Somerset Council declared a financial emergency due to increasing costs of providing key services and agreed to several actions to reduce spending.
This included a commitment to consult with the public on potential changes to the Council Tax Reduction (CTR) scheme.
 Somerset Council has launched a consultation asking for the public’s views on proposals which aim to ensure provision for children with additional needs can secure better outcomes and experiences for children, families and schools fairly and efficiently.
The current system for supporting children with SEND is under pressure both nationally and in Somerset, with rising costs and situations arising where children’s needs are not being met as quickly as anyone would want, and where arrangements are not having the impact that they should.
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Somerset Council’s Libraries service is relaunching its Winter Coat Exchange scheme, designed to support the community by providing access to warm coats for everyone in need.
As children settle in to the new school year, a ‘Back to School’ appeal has been launched for children’s/teen coats that may have been outgrown, but the scheme welcomes donations of coats for all ages.
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Somerset Council is replacing ageing traffic signals and upgrading crossings on Taunton’s busy Hurdle Way which will also improve access for cyclists, pedestrians and buses.
Both sets of traffic lights on the Hurdle Way/Mansfield Road and Hurdle Way/ Silver Street junctions need renewing as they are more than 20 years old and near the end of their working life.
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The biggest resurfacing programme in at least four years comes to a close this month with a final specialist treatment on roads across Somerset.
Somerset Council’s contractor Kiely Bros has carried out 1,000,000 sqm of road surface dressing in the county, equivalent to 141 football pitches. The treatment is a greener and more cost-effective form of maintenance, helping to improve the road network whilst emitting significantly less carbon compared to alternative solutions.
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Image courtesy of UKHSA
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) South West is reminding all higher education and university students –freshers and returning students - to make sure they are up to date with their free NHS childhood and adolescent vaccines against meningitis, measles and HPV ahead of starting the new academic year.
With lots of people newly coming together in confined environments and close mixing, universities and higher education can be hot spots for COVID-19, flu, measles, mumps and meningococcal disease as they present the perfect opportunity for infection to spread.
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