The then-Conservative government provided just over £19.7m through the levelling up fund in January 2023 to create the new facility at the former community hospital site on Salmon Parade, along with a satellite site in Minehead.
Work since this time has largely focused on delivering the Minehead site (near the town’s new police station on Stephenson Road) and carrying out design and remedial work on the Bridgwater site, working around other regeneration projects in the area.
Somerset Council formally agreed heads of terms for the project with local NHS officials in May, with £2.5m of additional funding being allocated in August after planned regeneration work in the Tonedale area of Wellington was scaled back.
The council’s planning committee north has now approved plans to convert part of the former gatehouse into a “dedicated bat mitigation building” -which must be in place before any wider construction work can commence.
The gatehouse at the former community hospital site on Salmon Parade in Bridgwater (Image: KTA Architects)
The gatehouse lies at the south-western corner of the hospital site, adjacent to the proposed access and car park for the new academy.
The new bat loft would be created within the gatehouse’s attic space, with repairs being carried out to the outside of the building, including the replacement of roof tiles.
The planning committee north (which handles major applications within the former Sedgemoor area) briefly discussed the plans at part of a wider meeting in Bridgwater on Tuesday afternoon (September 8).
Councillor Matt Martin (Liberal Democrat, King Alfred) quipped: “I propose that we accept this and ‘do the bat thing’.
“I’m a big disappointed that our officers refer to this as a bat dormer and not ‘the bat cave’.”
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.
Councillor Bob Filmer (Conservative, Brent) said: “How secure are the doors and windows going to be?
“If the area gets known for being a nice, dark, secluded area, it might attract other types of ‘evening life’ that we might not want to see going on there.”
Planning officer Amelia Elvé replied: “Currently, there is someone on site because of the ongoing issues that have happened.
Artist’s impression of the new health and social care academy on the former Bridgwater community hospital site on Salmon Parade (Image: KTA)
“There are anti-vandal security panels which I like to think would not allow people in.”
The committee voted unanimously to approve the plans after less than half an hour’s debate. A separate application covering the wider regeneration scheme is expected to be debate by the same committee before Christmas.
Under central government guidelines, all remaining grant funding from any projects covered by the levelling up fund must be committed under contract by March 2027, with all work being completed by April 2028.