Community pushing for paper mill's chance at a new chapter

THE former site of a Somerset paper mill faces an uncertain future ten years after it closed its doors for good.

- DANIEL MUMBY Local Democracy Reporter

The Wansborough paper mill in Watchet had been producing paper and other associated products since 1652 eight years before the restoration of Britain's monarchy.

The mill (which changed numerous times over the next 300 years) was once the largest UK producer of coreboard, a stiff material similar to cardboard used in packaging and labelling.

The site closed just before Christmas 2015 at a loss of more than 170 local jobs, with its final owner, the DS Smith group, taking a £30m write-down as a result.

Since then, the site has lain largely dormant as numerous different proposals to regenerate the area have been discussed, ranging from a major housing scheme to utilising the area for a new bypass.

Ten years on from its closure, it remains the largest brownfield site in the former West Somerset area, crying out for redevelopment while commercial house-builders focus on greenfield sites elsewhere in Watchet and in the neighbouring village of Williton.

But Base for Life, a community housing company set up in the town, is looking to break the deadlock, pushing for new homes which meet genuine local need and breathe new life into Watchet's economy, which has floundered in light of the indefinite closure of the B3191 Cleeve Hill towards Blue Anchor.

The nonprofit company aims to convert disused land or buildings into rented properties, which will remain in community ownership similar to what the Frome Area Community Land Trust intends to do as part of the much-trumpeted Mayday Saxonvale scheme in Frome.

The group had "made connections" with Tameer Homes, the Croydon-based company which has owned the paper mill site since December 2018, having purchased the land for £4m, according to the Land Registry.