"iPad users" criticised for being too negative about Yeovil Refresh scheme
The programme has been beset with issues, with the council’s district executive voting on Thursday to allocate further funding deal with a £4.2m budget gap
A Somerset councillor has criticised “iPad users” for being too negative about efforts to regenerate Yeovil town centre.
South Somerset District Council has been attempting to revitalise the town centre through its Yeovil Refresh programme, delivering improvements to the public realm and local transport and trying to encourage new development.
The programme has been beset with issues, with the council’s district executive voting on Thursday morning (January 5) to allocate further funding deal with a £4.2m budget gap across the various projects.
But Councillor Peter Gubbins, portfolio holder for the Yeovil Refresh, has maintained that it will be a success once completed, describing its critics as “iPad users” and claiming such people were “very few and far between”.
The Yeovil Refresh includes improvements to five key parts of the town centre public realm:
- Westminster Street (funded by the council)
- The Triangle and Wine Street (funded by the council, the future high streets fund and financial contributions from developers)
- Middle Street (funded by the council and the future high streets fund)
- High Street and The Borough (funded by the council and the future high streets fund)
- Wyndham Street (funded by financial contributions from developers
The total budget for these works was set at £11.2m by the full council in August 2022 – on top of around £1.6m for “transport system changes” and more than £9.3m for “major projects”, bringing the total Yeovil Refresh budget to £22.129m.
According to the council’s predictions, the public realm elements are currently running more than £4.2m over-budget – with the works on The Triangle and Wine Street contributing half of this overspend on their own.
To help plug this budget gap, the district executive committee voted in Yeovil on Thursday morning (January 5) to provide nearly £2m extra for the programme, bringing the new total budget of the Yeovil Refresh to £24.122m.
This will come from reallocating around £1.2m of council funds from the transport element of the programme after external grant funding was obtained, as well as using £821,000 from an agreed reserve – meaning there will be no net rise in costs to the taxpayer.
Further savings will be obtained by redesigning the revamp of High Street and the eastern part of Middle Street, replacing the planned ‘tree pits’ there with raised planting areas (saving around £435,000), as well as reallocating £146,000 towards delivering the new outdoor screen which will be erected at The Triangle.
Mr Gubbins told the committee: “We’ve had to face many, many problems, from utilities companies not knowing where their pipes are going through to buildings collapsing.
“There’s been a hell of a lot of work on this. I’ve been in business for 30 years – when you get a change, and another change, and then another change on top, it’s not easy.”
Councillor Martin Wale, whose Blackdown and Tatworth ward includes the villages around Chard, said the council needed to get on the front foot and sell the remaining parts of the Yeovil Refresh to the public.
He said: “Are we doing anything to try and protect our image in this matter?
“As you all know, I’m sure, the media and public are giving it some large on the apparent failures of this scheme.
“I really think we ought to send out something laying out the worries and the way forward. It’s a talking point.”
Mr Gubbins responded: “I fail to see where the failure of the scheme has come in – the scheme isn’t finished yet. How can we judge the scheme as it is?
“I was up in Kettering recently – they’ve done a similar project to us, except they’ve been brave enough to go even further. They’ve banned all vehicles through their high street and it’s booming – hardly any empty shops, people sitting around with coffee in the streets and accordions playing.
“I will listen to anybody that’s got an alternative view to what we’ve got, but I won’t listen to someone who’s negative.
“The kind of thing that Martin is talking about is what I would call ‘iPad users’ – they sit there, they look at the scheme and go: ‘Oh, I don’t like that. Yeovil’s a rubbish place’ and all that. They’re very few and far between.
“This is not a failure – this will be a success. We are trying to promote our town.”
Councillor Tony Lock, portfolio holder for protecting core services, added: “The scheme has not progressed how we would have like. You have to look at the situation.
“We’ve had covid, which has taken two years out of the working of this. We have had one of the companies which was charged with doing one section of this going into liquidation – that’s not the council’s fault.
“We now have high interest rates which is pushing costs up. All local authorities, irrespective of political persuasion, are having to look at their finances line by line and see where they can make savings to survive.
“This is something we have had to do with this project. I think we’ve done a fantastic job under the circumstances.”
The committee voted unanimously to approve the changes to the Yeovil Refresh programme – though the full council will have to give final approval when it meets on January 19.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Gubbins added: “The proposals put forward sought to redefine certain elements of the project scope to reflect current forecast costs, without compromising the integrity and original vision of the programme. I am pleased that the proposed project amendments have been approved and that the project can continue to successful completion.”
The majority of the current elements of the Yeovil Refresh are expected to be completed by Summer 2024.
For more details, visit Yeovil Refresh.