Council reviewing £20m regeneration of historic mill

The £20m regeneration of an 18th Century mill is being reviewed to ensure the money will be spent in the most effective way.

Somerset Council was given money via the Levelling Up fund in 2023 to transform the Tone Works site and neighbouring Tonedale Mill near Wellington.

However, the money remains unspent, with the council concerned about how cost effective the project is.

Mike Rigby, the councillor in charge of economic development and assets, told the BBC: "I'm determined to hold onto as much of that £20m as I can as there is work to be done... it's just a question of when we push the button that all the pieces are in place that whatever we do is deliverable."

Rigby said there had to be a "lasting and meaningful benefit" to spending the money.

"I think the risk is if we get that wrong, we could just end up spending all of it and not really achieving anything at all.

"The scale of the task is so big, £20m doesn't go very far," he added.

Tonedale Mill is owned privately, but has been served notice by the council to carry out urgent repairs.

The council could buy the portion of the site it does not own, however it would be left with the liability for it, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Rigby said: "The risk is if we do that without first having worked out where the money comes from to satisfactorily bring the building back into some form of use that then the council ends up with a massive liability.

"So that's all part of the work we are doing at the moment to assess whether or not that's a sensible option."

Tonedale Mill and Tone Works were once the centre of Fox Brothers & Co. Ltd, one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of woollen garments in the region, with 5,000 people employed there at its height.

Tonedale Mill almost entirely closed in the 1980s, though a small amount of production continues on part of the site, while Tone Works closed its doors in 2000.

Somerset Council has asked the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) for an extension to the funding deadline, up to March 2027.

A council spokesman said: "We are in discussions with MHCLG about this and understand that a formal response will not come until sometime after the spring budget."

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