REGENERATING the Firepool site in Taunton town centre will have cost taxpayers nearly £29m by 2025, according to council projections.

Somerset West and Taunton Council is endeavouring to revitalise the former cattle market site (which has lain vacant since 2008), filling the space with housing, commercial units, a hotel, cinema and potentially a multi-purpose entertainment venue.

Planning permission was recently secured for the new access road into the site from the B3087 Trenchard Way, with further plans for part of the regeneration scheme expected to be approved by the council’s planning committee on Thursday (March 17).

But official council figures have now revealed that the authority – and by extension, the unitary council which will replace it in 2023 – expects to spend nearly £29m on the site by the end of the 2024/25 financial year.

The figures were published ahead of a meeting of the council’s audit and governance committee in Taunton on Monday evening (March 14).

As part of its annual budgeting and financial planning, the council produces a prediction of how much it will spend through its capital programme over the next five years – with much of the money for its capital projects coming from borrowing or income from its commercial investments.

Within its capital programme, there are three separate sums allocated for the Firepool regeneration scheme, adding up to a total of £28,935,000.

These comprise the construction of “Block 1” (£13,427,000), work to transform the existing car parks (£10,352,000) and general “phase one infrastructure” (£5,156,000).

In addition, the council voted in February 2020 to commit up to £6million on a series of schemes designed to protect properties in the town centre from flooding, along with the regeneration sites at Firepool and Coal Orchard.

John Dyson, the council’s interim corporate finance manager, said in his written report: “The Firepool master-plan includes mixed residential, retail and office accommodation, while blending in a landmark boulevard with water gardens, an amphitheatre and dedicated cycle and pedestrian access in a high-quality environment.

“The intention is that this supports the town centre by encouraging new and longer visits to the town. It is a regeneration site that may also offer income earning opportunities.

“While planning permission has been delayed due to the county-wide phosphates issues, this has fortuitously allowed us to use a part of the site to accommodate a vaccination centre, successfully supporting the Somerset covid vaccination programme.”

The capital fund includes other sums allocated for regeneration over the next three years – including just over £2.7million to conclude work on the Coal Orchard site and more than £2.2million for active travel schemes.

A further £3.5million has been set aside for protecting the coast at Blue Anchor, safeguarding the B3191 coast road and the nearby properties from rapid coastal erosion.

The council’s planning committee will meet in Taunton on Thursday (March 17) from 1pm to discuss two planning applications for the Firepool site.

One application concerns the former GWR offices (Block 3 within the Firepool master-plan), which will see a new office building erected to provide employment space, with commercial outlets on the ground floor.

The existing GWR offices will also be converted and extended to provide a new restaurant, with outdoor seating overlooking the wider site.

The other application will see the former auction house on Canal Road demolished and the surrounding land being raised up to prevent flooding from the River Tone.

If both applications are approved, construction of these elements is likely to begin by the summer.