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News
roundup
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A “Celebrating Care Leavers – Making A Difference Together” conference was held at Canalside in Bridgwater last Wednesday (12 March 2025), to shine a light on the support and opportunities available to young people leaving care in Somerset.
The event aimed to empower care leavers and foster a collaborative environment for their future success.
Somerset is home to over 350 care leavers aged 18 to 25, and the conference provided a platform to celebrate their achievements, understand their challenges, and explore how the business community can offer real, lasting support.
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Somerset Council and its highways contractor Kier held a competition for local schools to name two new road gritters which have joined the fleet.
Around 30 names were submitted, 6 names were short-listed and Brymore Academy’s ‘Gritty Gritty Bang Bang’ was one of the 2 winning entries decided by public votes.
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March is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month and thanks to this recent initiative, over 100 prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests have been conducted at various highways depots and at County Hall in Taunton.
Prostate cancer is one of the leading causes of death among men in the UK, with most men experiencing no symptoms. Undertaking a PSA test provides significant reassurance to the team.
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Somerset Council is introducing an innovative new system in Taunton to give buses priority at traffic lights and encourage more people to bus it to town.
Work starts on 24 March on signals along East Reach to install the new technology which will see a smart system effectively link oncoming buses with the signals and enable the lights to change and allow them through.
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Somerset Council will be resurfacing one of the county’s key roads next week.
Work on the B3224 Church Hill in Exford will be done across 5 days from Monday 24 March to Friday 28 March inclusive.
Following initial work under temporary traffic lights on Monday, the road will be closed to vehicles from Tuesday 25 March to Friday 28 March, from 9.30am to 3.30pm. The road will be open as normal outside these hours.
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Taunton’s main library in Paul Street will be closed for two days next month while Somerset Council carries out important upgrades.
The library, and The Glass Box innovation space, will close their doors on Wednesday and Thursday 9 and 10 April for a major IT network and Wi-Fi hardware and systems improvements.
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 These informal sessions are a great way to learn more about foster care in a relaxed, friendly setting. No PowerPoint presentations and absolutely no pressure to take your interest any further – just a chance to find out more over a hot drink and a slice of cake (provided free of charge by us).
 To coincide with Tick Bite Prevention Week between 25 to 31 March, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has launched its annual tick awareness campaign.
Ticks are most active throughout the spring and summer when more of us spend time outdoors, however, there’s some simple actions to take to help protect yourself and others from tick bites, which can result in infections such as Lyme disease.
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