THERE are “severe delays” in delivering much-needed council flats and houses on the outskirts of Minehead, Somerset Council has admitted.

The council has been working with its contractor Classic Builders to deliver 54 new council properties on Rainbow Way near the town’s cricket club and Premier Inn.

The new homes, the first new council houses in Minehead for a generation, are being built to a high standard with solar panels and air source heat pumps to help keep tenants’ energy bills low.

But the council has now admitted that the first flats within the site won’t be completed until January or February with the remainder not being finished until two months later.

“The apartment blocks have suffered severe delays and the first 11 flats are now due to be completed in January or February 2025, and the remaining 22 flats will not be finished until April 2025," according to a council spokesman.

The delays in the completion of the properties was revealed in a report published for the council’s tenants’ strategic group meeting in Taunton November 25.

Health and safety concerns and the proximity of the new apartment blocks opposite also mean there is a delay in houses still to be completed within the project, the council heard.

The council intends to hold another open event within the site January 21, allowing potential tenants to have tours of one of the completed flats. Further details of this event will be announced either side of Christmas.