Listening to Croscombe: What a Village’s Road Works Reveal About Resident Communication
A first-hand account recorded by Claire Sully, local councillor and Croscombe resident A Note from Claire Sully I am a local councillor, and I live in the village of Croscombe. Like many of my neighbours, I have experienced the road works on Long Street and the A361 corridor between Shepton Mallet and Wells firsthand, and…
Read MoreGrassroots, Evidence, and the Road Not Taken: Rethinking the Glastonbury TrainLink Debate
The Glastonbury Trainlink team were actively working to stimulate demand for bus usage, which is exactly the kind of approach we need, i.e. community grassroots driven. They also carried out valuable groundwork in community engagement, with Parishes, surveys etc. It’s not accurate to assume that a train link via Pilton village would fail. Rather, it…
Read MoreThe House on the Hill that shouldn’t be there!
The story of Leonard House, Winters Hill, West Compton — and what it tells us about our planning system. On a hillside above the ancient Somerset village of West Compton, near Shepton Mallet, sits a modern single-storey house with large glass windows that light up the valley at night. Locals have described the glow as…
Read MoreMendip South Division — Safety Defect Completions
Report road defects directly online — it’s the fastest way to get them fixed: https://www.somerset.gov.uk/roads-travel-and-parking/report-a-problem-on-the-road/ If you are reporting a problem outside our normal working hours – Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5pm – and you believe it is urgent and a risk to public safety, please phone 0300 123 2224. You can also check on a…
Read MoreA Five-Year-Old’s Voice That Moved a Council
I’ve always taken the approach that communities should have a voice — and that those who can’t speak up for themselves still need to be heard. A child of just five was upset to discover that their favourite park furniture — two animal rockers — had gone. The family regularly visited their local park in…
Read MoreMy Monthly Report for Mendip South
Planning Application Extensions — Parish Councils Have the Right to Request More Time Following concerns raised with me by Parish Clerks in my division, I contacted planning to clarify the position on extension requests. Parish Clerks had been told that extensions to consultation periods were not possible when requested to align with the timing of…
Read MoreUnder the trees
The Somerset Conference of Trees is being held on June 12th in Hornblotton — the village I grew up in, where my Dad lived until he died in 2016, and which sits within my Councillor division of Mendip South. This division is the landscape of my formative years. After the local elections in 2027, Mendip…
Read MoreA people’s path, in pieces, while determined as a train on the track to be a Somerset Circle.
Have you ever wondered why the Strawberry Line appears in parts of Mid-Somerset in fragments — stops and starts, interrupted with gaps of busy roads? The answer is a history lesson, and a story of remarkable persistence spanning many decades. Recently I attended a packed meeting of the Pilton Village History Group, where Richard Jones…
Read MoreFly Tipping Incident Update — Pilton
Date of Incident: 1 April 2026 | Report Date: 15 April 2026Cllr Claire Sully, Mendip South division Where We Are Now I have met with the Envirocrime team, who are actively working on this and many other cases every week. I want to reassure residents that this is a team with real expertise and a…
Read MoreUpdate: Pilton Fly-Tipping Investigation
I wanted to share an update on the recent fly-tipping incident in Pilton that many of you will be aware of and are keen to see resolved. Somerset Council’s Environmental Crime Team investigates and enforces against offences like fly-tipping, dog fouling, littering, graffiti, and abandoned vehicles. The team is actively investigating and we are pleased…
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