A MINOR injuries unit in a Somerset town will not be relocating into a former council building, NHS bosses have confirmed.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust operates seven minor injuries units (MIUs) across the county, providing treatment for non-life threatening injuries or illnesses such as sprains, eye infections and minor head injuries.

Local reports suggested the trust was planning to move Shepton Mallet’s MIU from the community hospital on Bucklers Way into the Shape Mendip campus, which includes the former Mendip District Council HQ.

But trust representatives say they have no plans to relocate it – though conversations are continuing with the council to ensure the best use of public sector buildings.

A spokesman said: “Somerset Council and NHS Somerset hold regular discussions around our one public estate programme, to ensure we make best use of the publicly owned buildings in Somerset and deliver value for money for our residents.

“However, we currently have no plans to move the MIU in Shepton Mallet.”

The council is currently conducting an in-depth review of its land, property and assets, including those which it inherited from the four district councils which were abolished last April.

Where property is no longer required, or cannot be leased out to other public sector bodies, officers have been exploring ways to sell the individual buildings off for new residential or commercial development, with the proceeds being used to fund frontline services.

The council has already identified Petters House in Yeovil and C Block of County Hall in Taunton will be sold off, with three buildings in Williton also being disposed of as services are consolidated within West Somerset House, the former West Somerset Council HQ.

Cllr Sue Osborne suggested in early-March that the former Mendip HQ would “make a really nice Travelodge” and should be sold off given how few of its desks are occupied on a monthly basis.

The council chamber still hosts monthly meetings of the council’s planning committee east, as well as licensing hearings, planning inquiries and meetings of the Somerset Rivers Authority board.

Sara Kelly, the council’s property rationalisation programme manager, said at the time: “In terms of the longer term rationale for that site, it’s another site that we’re actively discussing with our one public estate partners.

“There is interest in that, and we would want to allow those conversations to progress.”