TENANTS in several rundown Taunton council houses could be moved out of their homes next month ahead of a major regeneration scheme.

Somerset West and Taunton Council plans to demolish 11 two-bedroom flats on Wordsworth Drive and four on Coleridge Drive.

SWT wants to replace them with more energy-efficient properties, providing a higher standard of living for its tenants.

The full council has now approved the scheme, with the first tenants being rehoused from April, though it is not currently clear what sort of homes will be built on the site.

Tuesday's (March 29) meeting heard the properties are more than 50 years old and no longer provide the necessary quality of thermal efficiency, while the cost of bringing them to an appropriate standard does not provide reasonable value for the council.

Under the plans, the existing ten tenants in the Wordsworth Drive block will be moved out in April and granted gold band status on the Homefinder to help them find alternative accommodation.

The council will purchase the sole leasehold property in the block and arrange for the closure of the existing One Stop convenience store on the ground floor.

The four tenants of Coleridge Crescent will be moved out in April 2023 and will also be granted gold band status on Homefinder.

The existing 13 garages will remain in place and continue to be let until the future of the site has been agreed.

The demolition of the existing blocks proceed in the spring, but precise proposals for the replacement homes have so far not been put forward.

The scheme forms part of a wider programme from the council intended to deliver hundreds of new council houses across the district by 2023.

The largest scheme, the North Taunton Woolaway Regeneration Programme, will feature 227 new homes and a community centre to replace the existing “defective” properties in the Priorswood area.

Construction on the first phase began last August, with the first tenants expected to move back to the area in the coming months.

A number of smaller schemes across Taunton are also being planned, including the conversion of the former Oxford Inn pub and the delivery of 26 new homes on Sneddon Grove.

Revised plans for 54 new council houses on Minehead's Seaward Way go before the council’s planning committee next Thursday (April 7).

Story by Daniel Mumby, Local Democracy reporter