Community levy completed regeneration site following the collapse of the contractor

A regeneration site in Somerset was forced to be completed money generated from housing developments after the main contractor went into administration last year.

This week, Somerset West and Taunton Council revealed they spent £16m on the Riverside development on the Coal Orchard site in Taunton – a county town in Somerset. The local authority also unveiled they spent £420,000 on new steps down to the River Tone, which was paid for by the community infrastructure levy (CIL).

The additional funding was obtained as the original contractor, went into administration after losing its funds.

A total of £16m was spent by the council on delivering the Coal Orchard project between 2019 and 2023. Of this, around 7.7m came from the sale of existing council assets and just over £3.9m came from external borrowing.

A total of £1.25m came from the government’s future high streets fund, on top of £870,000 from Homes England and more than £1.85m from other grants or underspends in various other budgets. However, this left a gap of £420,000 which was filled by the CIL.

Joe Wharton, the Council’s Assistant Director of Major and Special Projects, said in his written report: ‘The overall cost of the scheme has been subject to overspend due to the impact of the main contractor going into administration in January 2022.

‘The project has created a new high quality public realm, including additional flood mitigation in the town centre on the site of an end of life public swimming pool and care park.

‘The public realm supports 40 one and two-bedroom apartments and eight commercial units as well as creating and augmenting the surrounding Taunton independent quarter, the Brewhouse Theatre and the riverside footpath.’

Cllr Mike Rigby, Portfolio Holder for Economic Development, Planning and Transport, said in his final report: ‘At the time of writing, all but two of the residential units were occupied, including all of the discounted open market units that were subject to strict criteria relating to income and local connections.

‘A new commercial agent is now in place, with ongoing negotiations on several commercial units continuing. Two of the eight units are close to agreement.’

Image: John-Mark Strange