Work has finally started on redeveloping Burnham-On-Sea’s former job centre into a new restaurant and eight flats.
Seventeen years after it closed as a job centre, the site is being converted by its new owner.
It comes after Burnham-On-Sea.com reported in November that Somerset Council had approved the proposals to redevelop the building.
A previous planning application to develop the job centre was approved in 2020 but had lapsed without work being undertaken, hence revised plans were submitted to Somerset Council by the applicant.
The building, located at the junction of Burnham’s High Street and Regent Street, will be turned into a new retail unit while upstairs there will be four 1-bedroom flats plus four 2-bedroom flats.
We previously reported here that the Town Council’s Planning Applications Committee had supported the proposals on the basis that they would bring a vacant building back into use, generate new employment, create new accommodation, and tidy up the street scene.
The property has been vacant since the former job centre closed in March 2008.
The building was set to be redeveloped into a community facility with £1million of funding from the Government’s Coastal Community Fund, but the grant bid was rejected in 2018.
There were also previous proposals for the ground floor of the building to be turned into a convenience store, which are no longer proceeding.
