The YMCA has this week said that the £11million Highbridge Hotel redevelopment project will still ‘eventually go ahead’ despite a major funding shortfall.
Sedgemoor district councillors councillors have been told at their latest meeting that the project faces significant financial challenges and may need major investment in order to go forward.
The project intends to deliver 59 new homes on the old cattle market site, and it will also redevelop the fire-damaged former hotel into new accommodation for the YMCA plus a multi-use games area, as first reported here.
Councillors have given their support to the initial phase of the project, for the proposed homes to be built and the former hotel to be “reinstated as a wind and water-proof building.”
However, councillors were surprised that a report on the project made no mention of the timeframes for the development and refers to a “significant gap in the funding to deliver the comprehensive redevelopment”.
Highbridge Hotel owner Derek Mead told Burnham-On-Sea.com in July that the £11million project to transform the fire-hit property is being held up by EDF’s long-running discussions with the government over funding for Hinkley Point C, as we reported here.
Sedgemoor District Council spokeswoman Claire Faun told Burnham-On-Sea.com this week: “The permission has been granted, but the S106 agreement has yet to be agreed. This is within normal timescales and all partners are working toward a viable funding package.”
In a statement, Martin Hodgson, Bridgwater YMCA chief executive, added: “We are all working really hard to see whether we can attract the funding to make the hotel go forward because it’s very much needed. If we can secure the hotel, to make sure that no further damage is caused to it, that will make it easier to attract funding. It’s about managing people’s expectations. It will happen eventually.”
Allison Griffin, Sedgemoor District Council’s corporate director, said the council had not yet given any money to an outside party, but added that it is not unusual for local authorities to give financial support to affordable housing schemes.
The former Highbridge Hotel has been derelict since a huge blaze occurred in April 2008 and negotiations about its future have been ongoing ever since.
