Somerset Council has been seeking to delivery the academy by re-purposing the former Bridgwater community hospital on Salmon Parade, using £19.7m of central government funding.
While the satellite site in Minehead has been up and running for some time, progress on the main Bridgwater project has been slower than expected – with the council now racing to convert the former gatehouse into a “dedicated bat mitigation building” to allow construction work to begin in the new year.
To cover rising costs associated with the project, the council’s executive committee is expected to allocate £2.5m of grants which was originally earmarked for the regeneration of Tonedale Mill in Wellington.
The social care academy project and the Tonedale regeneration project (which also covers Tone Works) both received grants from the then-Conservative government’s levelling up fund, in January 2023 and November 2023 respectively.
Tonedale Mill in Wellington, seen from Fox’s Field (Image: Daniel Mumby)
Under the original grant terms, this funding had to be spent on each allocated project – meaning spare grant funding from one area could not automatically be spent elsewhere.
However, the current Labour government has streamlined ongoing levelling up fund and town deal projects into the new ‘local regeneration fund’, making it easier for local authorities to transfer grants from one project to another.
The council agreed in July that it was “no longer viable to proceed with the Tonedale Mill project as originally planned“, with much of the remaining funds being focused on bringing Tone Works back into a functional state.
Under central government guidelines, all remaining grant funding from any legacy regeneration projects must be committed under contract by March 2027, with all work being completed by April 2028.
Lara Bell, the council’s place-based innovation and regeneration lead officer, outlined the need for the additional funding in a report published before the executive committee meeting in Taunton on September 2.
She said in her written report: “The academy scheme has undergone significant redesign and value engineering in response to operational requirements, planning considerations and engagement with Historic England.
“This work has produced a deliverable scheme, but has also identified additional capital costs associated primarily with heritage conservation requirements, building retention measures and associated design development.
“To address these additional costs, approval is sought for a £2.5m increase in the academy capital budget funded through reallocation of local
regeneration fund resources from the Tonedale project allocation.
The former Bridgwater community hospital on Salmon Parade in Bridgwater town centre, viewed from Blake Gardens (Image: Daniel Mumby)
“Following review of programme commitments and funding requirements across the wider local regeneration fund programme, it has been identified that this funding can be redirected to support delivery of the academy project while continuing to support the council’s wider regeneration objectives.”
Up to 3,000 training sessions will be delivered by the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust through the academy every year (whether in-person or virtually) across nearly 3,000 sq m of working space, with a range of training rooms, offices and outdoor training space being provided over three floors within the complex.
The site will also include an early years centre and an independent living centre – the latter of which provides support and technology for people wishing to remain in their homes longer, rather than moving into a nursing home.
The executive committee will meet on September 2 to agree both this reallocation of funding and to approve the full business case for the academy.
Artist’s impression of the new health and social care academy on the former Bridgwater community hospital site on Salmon Parade (Image: KTA)
The plans for both the bat mitigation and the wider academy scheme are expected to come before the council’s planning committee north (which handles major applications within the former Sedgemoor area) in the near-future.
The council formally agreed heads of terms for the project with local NHS officials in May, enabling construction to begin once both planning applications have been granted.
The new facility is expected to be operational by the spring of 2028.