So farewell then, the Blackmore Vale Magazine, the local house hunters’ bible and the one place to look for gardeners, tilers, garden machinery and old cars. Oh, and the dating page, which used to have some of us in stitches in the pub on Friday nights.
But rejoice. A replacement is at hand. Enter “The Leveller”, which claims to be Somerset’s largest circulation newspaper, based in Langport.
It’s a monthly, and the latest edition is just out. Each copy has been treated with an anti-bacterial agent, so you have nothing to fear.
Unlike the BVM, The August edition of ”The Leveller” is packed with hard-hitting news and editorials.
- The sudden cave in of Somerset’s District Councils in favour of a single unitary authority for Somerset.
- The case for a single unitary authority
- The Collapse of the planning departments in SSDC and SWAT
- The questionable results of SSDC’s “transformation programme” and its budget overrun
- Dubious behaviour by councilors in Wells over planning issues
- The ongoing soap opera of Wincanton Town Council
- The sale of Viridor (who collect your rubbish) to an American venture capital company
- Somerset’s limited response to climate change
- And much more
You would never find this kind of serious local journalism in the dear old BVM (or any of its sister journals published by its owners Reach plc, who seem intent on putting all its publications on line in an annoying clickbait format which has alienated readers. The BVM was becoming increasingly advertising-driven, with the editorial team having a very minor seat at the bottom of the table. Sadly, they have all lost their jobs, which we regret. But in the blog’s view, the writing had been on the wall for years.
So we welcome “The Leveller”, and hope its talented editor Andrew Lee and team will continue the fight to hold the people who govern us to account. And lets have some ads for animals, old cars, garden sheds. Mowers, plumbers, plasterers and all sorts. No dating though.
You will find The Leveller in most of the places you would have picked up the BVM
The on line edition is here https://leveller.live/
It’s also on Facebook and Twitter.