THERE are plans to launch the Somerset arm of a national initiative in Wellington with the aim of improving early years’ education and care.

The Best Start in Life project will focus on delivering substantial improvements in early years’ outcomes to meet the government’s target of 75 per cent of five-year-olds reaching a good level of development by 2028.

Rachel Parker, the strategic manager and head of public health nursing at Somerset Council, said it would be fantastic to utilise the Kings Arms Community Hub in Wellington to spearhead a pilot project in the county.

She gave a presentation to Wellington Town Council’s community committee on January 19 about the project and received a big thumbs-up from councillors who were keen to get involved.

Rachel said: “There are steep targets which have been set, but I believe we will do it,

“We are looking at rolling out family hubs across Somerset.

“The Kings Arms Community Hub in Wellington would be a brilliant place to start things off and the town council really is ahead of the game.

“So we’d like to work with the town council on this and use the Kings Arms as a test case before rolling it out across the county.”

The government plans to launch the new initiative to support families from April 2026 in every local authority area with Wellington earmarked to start things in Somerset.

The planned family hub will provide essential services including parenting support, healthcare and early education under one roof at the Kings Arms.

Cllr Andy Govier said: “We need to get on with this. Every day that goes by is a day we aren’t helping to improve a young person’s life. We have to get on with this and crack on.”

Cllr Govier added: “We’ve been treading water in recent years with youth provision here in Wellington so this is a very exciting opportunity for us.”

Cllr Justin Cole said: “I agree – let’s get on with this. Some things will work and some things won’t work, but the quicker we get on with it the sooner we’ll find out what works and what doesn’t.”

He said the council had a “lot of spinning plates” in terms of projects and initiatives at the moment and did not want any of them to falter, so questioned whether it had the right resources.

The council’s chief executive, Dave Farrow, told councillors that he and officers would be looking at “what is needed to deliver” the project.

Cllr Mark Lithgow felt the council needed to “keep its feet on the ground” with all the things happening at the Kings Arms.

“We are launching all these things from the Kings Arms Community Hub, but we don’t always talk about the evidential need for them.

“I don’t want us to runaway with all these exciting projects without our feet on the ground and not keeping a close look on the costs.”

Rachel told councillors that the project would be supported by national funding.