A former hotel opposite Taunton railway station will be reopened by the local YMCA following a successful grant funding bid.

YMCA Somerset Coast, which is based in Bridgwater, is embarking on a £2.3m project to bring the building back into use as both a hotel and a base for start-up businesses.

The work is set to begin this spring after the charity secured the final £500,000 from funds designed to mitigate the community impact of Hinkley Point C.

West Somerset Council met last Wednesday (March 21) to approve the latest funding bids made to the Hinkley Point C Community Impact Mitigation (CIM) fund .

The fund was set up after planning permission for the new power station was granted to EDF Energy in January 2012.

Worth around £7.4m, it exists to support the local community through projects designed to reduce the impact of the development to residents.

Under the YMCA’s proposal, the Grade II listed building will be reopened as a hotel with 20 en-suite bedrooms, a cafe, restaurant and meeting rooms.

The lower ground floor will be given more than ten business units, providing a base for small firms or start-ups.

The project will create ten new jobs or traineeships and 12 apprenticeships, with accommodation for apprentices being provided.

The charity said Hinkley Point C was “creating a demand for a large, skilled workforce” and that the hotel would “play a pivotal part” in allowing businesses to provide employees with the necessary training.

In recommending the grant, the CIM fund manager said the project would help support vulnerable young people and would “leave a legacy for the community.”

Taunton has the busiest railway station in Somerset, which serves more than 1.4 million passengers per year with more than 79,000 interchanges, according to the Office of Rail and Road.

With Network Rail intending to reinstate the entrance directly opposite the hotel building, the new business is likely to attract considerable footfall.

The original completion date has been set as March 2019, but YMCA chief executive Martin Hodgson told the BBC it could be open as early as this summer.

The Great Western will be the charity’s second recent venture into hotels, following its successful purchase of The Beach Hotel in Minehead in November 2013.

Young people in the Minehead area are also set to benefit from the latest round of CIM fund grants.

A total of £71,150 will be provided to Minehead Eye, a charity which runs the town’s indoor skate park and all the youth clubs in the district.

The money will be used to employ a full-time youth worker for two years, who will work with young people between the ages of 11 and 24, with an emphasis on mental and sexual health.

Other projects which have been funded this time around include a new hall and changing rooms at Minehead Recreation Ground (£382,047) and a project run by the Somerset Wildlife Trust to improve school pupils’ understanding of the coastline (£159,035).