Redevelopment of a Radstock landmark and the gateway to Westfield has proved challenging for a local builder.

Known locally as The Shambles, a reference to an historical slaughterhouse on the site, the collection of shops and offices on Wells Hill has gradually been falling into disrepair for over a decade.

Builder, Dave Fishlock, spent many years driving past the collection of dilapidated buildings on his way to work each day and decided to accept the challenge to redevelop the site which had been neglected by the previous owner after squatters moved in. Buying the site without planning permission proved to be the first major hurdle.

The Shambles was not listed when Dave bought the site in 2013 but, on submitting plans for its redevelopment, Bath and North East Somerset Council decided the site had enough heritage significance to be listed as a non-designated heritage asset. The listing was applied during the planning process and any planning decisions moving forward would be governed by BANES Conservation officers.

Demolition of the site was not an option and it was eventually agreed that the street facing facades would need to be retained. A historical photograph was found in the archive by an interested local and agreement was reached to return the facades to their original cottage style appearance, removing the later shop front additions.

Planning was eventually approved in March 2018 for development of two 2 bedroom cottages, four 1 bedroom flats, four 2 bedroom flats and one commercial unit. However, by this stage Conservation's elevated build specification for the project had increased redevelopment costs to such an extent and the need for additional funding caused another delay.

Pushing the project forward has had the full support of Westfield Parish Council but it has still been a challenge, particularly as retaining the front facades of the buildings where the pavement narrows involves closing a lane of the A367 commuter route from Wells to Bath in order to reroute pedestrians.

Dave Fishlock and his team continue to work tirelessly to ensure there will be as little disruption to local traffic as possible during the redevelopment. The coronavirus pandemic caused additional delays to negotiations with Highways concerning the lane closure, and the elongated closure of Silver Street has only added to the complications. Prohibitive costs associated with this phase of the work have seen a return to the drawing board yet again to try to find a suitable alternative to extensive lane closures.

"We are optimistic and hopeful of a timely solution to the issues we continue to face with The Shambles redevelopment," says Dave. "We really are trying to find the best solution for minimum disruption to locals whilst providing a much improved gateway to Westfield. It has been a long battle but we will persevere and hope to be ready before planning permission runs out in March 2021", he added.

Non-designated heritage assets: What are non-designated heritage assets?

Non-designated heritage assets are buildings, monuments, sites, places, areas or landscapes identified by plan-making bodies as having a degree of heritage significance meriting consideration in planning decisions but which do not meet the criteria for designated heritage assets. A substantial majority of buildings have little or no heritage significance and thus do not constitute heritage assets. Only a minority have enough heritage significance to merit identification as non-designated heritage assets.

Find out more by clicking here: the government site

The planning application on B&NES planning site is application no: 17/04186/FUL