Friday, May 15th, 2026
Christian Landlord Row | RUH Emergency Understaffed | New Bath Police Station
⛺️ For years, Christian charity landlords in Bath have provided some respite to renters with centrally located flats and more affordable rents. But as Somerset Confidential reports, the Willats Trust - which funds Christian work in poor parts of England - has issued a spate of evictions to its tenants, leading one person to become homeless after spinal surgery. Another tenant - the only one in her building to be served notice - is facing eviction after 30 years.
↪️ If you can offer legal assistance to any of those affected, please email: bathbeenews@gmail.com or somersetconfidential@gmail.com
↪️ If you would like to contact the Willat’s Chair of Trustees, Rev Roger Driver at St Michael’s Without, email: rector@stmichaelsbath.org.uk and please cc: somersetconfidential@gmail.com
🆘 The RUH’s emergency department has been deemed under-staffed and over-crowded after an inspection, reports the BBC in this piece which includes a radio interview with the foundation trust’s managing director.
🦠 Meanwhile, BANES councillors have vowed to fight the transfer of hundreds of part-time NHS staff to a private company, affecting their pensions and contracts, writes Local Democracy Reporter John Wimperis in Bath Voice.
👮🏽♀️ John also reports on plans to finally open a new police station in Bath also in Bath Voice.
🥪 The council is changing the way it helps families who currently receive free school meal holiday vouchers, according to its newsroom.
🧗♀️ If you’re wondering why there’s so much pedestrian diversion in central Bath - some of it, according to the Bath Echo, is because of falling masonry.
🙏🏽 As a general rule, we agree with the BBC-funded Local Democracy Reporting Service that we don’t duplicate press releases (that’s churnalism), as they are a public relations tool, not journalism. We are, however, making a limited exception for Welcome to Bath’s Loving the Indie series because it features real local people and their jobs.
Weather
🥶 Still a bit brrrr weather forecast this weekend.
🎉 Here’s your Party in the City official printable guide with events, venues and other vital information - starts tonight!
🇵🇸 Gaza refugee cultural night and fundraiser
📆 Friday, 15 May ⏰ 19:00 - 22:00
📍 New Oriel Hall 🎟️ £35 Adults, £25 students & children
🔗 Book here.
📵 Offline Quiz - Digital Detox Club
📆 Thursday 21 May ⏰ 7pm – 9pm
📍The Den Café, (Bath Riverside), Unit 1, Sovereign Point, BA2 3GJ
🎫 Book your place here
🎭 Bath Fringe Festival
📆 Fri 22 May - Sun 7 June
🔴 Bath Colourscape, live music programme
📅 23–31 May
📍 Bath Recreation Ground
🎟 Tickets £15/adult. Book here.
🪐 Family planetarium show at Bath Central Library
📆 Weds 27 May
Sewage in Rivers
💩 If you don’t know the story of the Turd Nerds - the activists who’ve been trying to expose the LEGAL dumping of raw sewage by private water companies in the UK - here are two recommendations:
📺 Watch Channel 4’s excellent dramatised version of the story, Dirty Business.
🎙️ Listen to the BBC’s podcast series, Rinsed, which reports more in-depth on the issue, including how government policy over many years colluded to encourage legal sewage dumping.
💦 Like so many local stories - this one remains largely unreported because there is little resource for in-depth journalism. But there is extensive data on Wessex Water’s record here in Bath and sewage dumping in the River Avon. Campaign website and data visualisation project Top of the Poops maps sewage discharges across England and Wales. The Avon is the most polluted river among those in the Wessex Water network.
City & Region
🚀 A West of England space company involved in a mission to Venus will expand after receiving £20m in funding, reports Bath Newseum.
👶🏻 A court has ruled that the second son of the Lord of Bath can potentially inherit a share of the Longleat family trust despite being born to a surrogate mother in America, reports the BBC.
🧿 A Bristol glass company that made pieces for Dr Who and the Harry Potter films is shutting shop due to rising costs, reports the BBC.
🐕 A day care centre housing up to 20 dogs plans to open next to Larkhall Football Club, reports the Bath Echo.
☀️ A block of social housing flats built in the 1980s has been refused permission for solar panels which would help with energy costs, reports the Bath Echo.
🏘️ A modern house on St James’s Park, just above St James’s Square has been approved to become a 4-bed HMO, reports the Bath Echo.
🏓 There is a new planning application for padel courts in Lansdown, reports the Bath Voice.
🍺 A craft brewery in Peasedown has been granted permission to expand, reports the Bath Echo.
👗 It’s official: planning permission for the new Fashion Museum has been approved, reports the Bath Voice.
Crime
🚨 Police are appealing for information after an assault in Southgate left a man with a broken jaw, reports the Bath Voice.
🚨 A man from Odd Down has been charged with a stabbing, reports the BBC.
🛍️ A Bath woman who lost her son last year has admitted a long list of crimes including a string of shop-lifting offences, reports the Bath Echo.
🐄 A court has heard cattle cruelty charges in Bath by two men, reports the Bath Echo.
🤬 A man who racially abused staff at the RUH has been given a community order, reports the Bath Echo.
Transport
🚧 Weston Road at Lower Weston will be closing for four nights for utility works, reports the Bath Echo.
🚇 GWRs rail re-nationalisation is going ahead this December. Will it reduce ticket prices? The BBC reports.
Sweet stuff 🍯
🐏 The BBC profiles a Somerset sheep which played a key role in a new Hollywood film starring Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson.
🐈⬛ The BBC reports on the life of an animal foster carer who started at Bath Cats & Dogs Home.
❤️ The founder of the annual charity Walk of Life - who’s helped raise more than £1 million - is set to do her final sponsored walk for the RUH on Saturday May 23rd, reports the Bath Echo.
🍰 In case you missed it, national treasure Mary Berry, who trained at what became Bath Spa University was honoured at the BAFTAs, reports the BBC.
🧑🏻🦰 All UK adults can have their likeness included in the National Portrait - an innovative art project displayed at the National Portrait gallery in London. Click the image below to see what it’s all about. Participate here.
🎩 Top posts from last week’s Bee:
🤑 15 council employees earn more than £100,000, according to the latest data from the TaxPayers’ Alliance’s 20th annual Town Hall Rich List. See the data from BANES here.
🚁 A Bath mum is running a triple marathon while performing stand-up comedy at venues along the way.
Re the sewerage in the Avon (so disgusting) local group We Are Avon are working to protect our river. 💙