Weston news in brief

MOTORWAY CASH BID

A multi-million pound bid for Government funding for cash to improve traffic flows at Weston-super-Mare's M5 junction has been approved by councillors.

An application for £10.3 million in funding for the Weston Package will now go to the Department of Transport for consideration.

The scheme – aimed at improving congestion around the junction – is costing £15 million overall and other funding is coming from North Somerset Council and cash raised from 106 planningagreements.

The project will include improvements to junction 21 of the M5 to reduce queuing off the motorway as well as improvements to the A370, including widening Marchfields Way to allow two way traffic.

The package was drawn up by North Somerset Council in response to the amount of housing development in the area and the fact that 20,000 people currently commute to work from Weston every day.

NEW OWNERS FOR PUB

Four County Inns, an operator of pubs across the South West, has acquired a pub in Weston-super-Mare.

The business has purchased the closed New Inn on Meadow Street. The pub was sold as part of a large disposal on behalf of a corporate client.

The pub, which is located in the centre of the town, is a three-storey period building. It was sold by Christie + Co.

Four County Inns director Edward Toomer said: "The New Inn will become a local community pub for residents and tourists alike with an emphasis on real ales and ciders. 

"We hope it will become a popular venue for real ale enthusiasts."

Nicholas Calfe from the Bristol office of Christie + Co said: "We are experiencing a lot of activity in the freehold pub market in the South West, especially in Bristol and its surrounding towns and villages.

"The sale of the New Inn to an established operator will be good for the town and, when the pub is reopened, I'm sure it will attract a good clientele looking for an enjoyable drink in a central location."

JOHN CLEESE BOOK DEAL

Monty Python star John Cleese has signed a deal to publish his first memoir, 50 years after launching his entertainment career.

The Weston-super-Mare-born comedian has struck a deal with publisher Random House for his autobiography.

The publisher said the book 'like the man himself, promises to be both hilariously frank and frankly hilarious'.

Mr Cleese, aged 72, attended Clifton College as a child and found his first success in the early 1960s as a TV comedy scriptwriter – after making a name for himself with the Cambridge Footlights – before appearing on The Frost Report and founding the Monty Python's Flying Circus team.

Hollywood success followed later with his lead role in A Fish Called Wanda, and he also had a two-movie stint in the James Bond movies, first as R and then as Q.

His book deal comes in the wake of a stand-up tour, known as the Alimony Tour, which followed the costly collapse of his third marriage to Alice Faye Eichelberger and subsequent divorce in 2008.

He recently married for the fourth time, to 41-year-old jewellery designer Jennifer Wade, of Bath.

Mr Cleese said of the book: "It's the perfect moment to look back on my life in anticipation of the next 50 years."

No date has been announced for the book's publication.

M5 METAL THEFT

A man has been arrested after he was spotted on CCTV stealing metal cables from a skip near the M5.

The 27-year-old man was taken in for questioning after he was seen acting suspiciously near an industrial skip between junction 16, the turn-off for Almondsbury, and junction 17, the turning for Cribbs.

A quantity of metal cable was found in a nearby field, where police arrested a 27-year-old man from Weston-super-Mare.

He has been released on police bail. 

Police continue to search for a second man also seen acting suspiciously in the area.