SOMERSET Council will earn more than £500,000 a year by renting out part of a former local authority headquarters to commercial tenants

Deane House, on Belvedere Road in Taunton, served as the headquarters first for Taunton Deane Borough Council and then Somerset West and Taunton Council, hosting the majority of each local authority’s public meetings and housing large numbers of its officers.

Somerset Council (which replaced the district council in April 2023) has been reviewing its property portfolio, with surplus assets being either sold off to generate one-off funds or rented out to provide regular income.

The council’s executive committee has now agreed to rent out the first and second floors of Deane House to organisations in the private and voluntary sectors, with all existing staff moving down the road to County Hall.

Under the proposals (which were first announced in late-May), the ground floor, which includes the council’s customer services reception and Taunton’s police station, will remain open as usual.

The committee rooms on the first floor – including the council chamber – are currently still used for council committee meetings, including the monthly meetings of its planning committee west (which handles major applications within the former Somerset West and Taunton area).

These meeting rooms would remain available for council use for two-and-a-half days per week, allowing these meetings to still be held on site.

Council staff will initially be relocated to A Block of County Hall, which will allow for collaborative working while a “more careful re-modelling” of B Block is undertaken.

The council’s executive committee met at Deane House to formally agree the planned changes on Monday (July 15).

Councillor Ros Wyke, portfolio holder for economic development, planning and assets, said: “The proposal will see £575,000 coming in each year over the next five years, which will help the budget.

“We will still be responsible for facilities management here, and of course the ground floor will still remain an information point for the public at this stage.

“We will look at B Block within County Hall and see if we can further improve the working conditions for the staff. We will be taking some of the furniture from here [Deane House].”

Oliver Woodhams, the council’s service director for strategic asset management, added: “This is a step on our journey of property rationalisation.

“We will be looking at other sites – we will be looking at A Block at some point in the future and the shape of our customer service offer in Taunton.

“There is a lot of work to come, but this is the right step to be taking and the right direction in which to be going.”

The council has not divulged which organisations could potentially rent the available space, citing commercial sensitivity.

Councillor Dixie Darch, portfolio holder for the environment and climate change, said the plans for the transition were “messy” but she accepted that “all options had been explored thoroughly” for the future of Deane House.

Councillor Heather Shearer, portfolio holder for children, families and education, replied: “It is messy to move twice, but it’s better to move into A Block and then do some proper refurbishment in B Block to actually get the best out of it that you possibly can.”

Councillor Fran Smith, associate portfolio holder for adult social care and housing, took a different view, worrying that relocating staff to a “pretty ugly” 1960s building would damage the council’s reputation.

She said: “I am quite attached for this building – I know it’s a 1980s building, but the 1960s building of County Hall is pretty ugly.

“I think it’s a shame – I think it’s sending out the wrong message, going against the idea that we were going to be different to the previous [Conservative] administration.”

Staff are expected to begin relocating from Deane House by August 1.

The council’s corporate and resources scrutiny committee will consider the disposal of a number of “non-operational” council assets when it meets in Taunton on Wednesday (July 24).

The list of proposed disposals includes C Block of County Hall (which the council announced its intention to sell off in March) and part of the Firepool regeneration site.