PLANS for the refurbishment of Watchet Harbour Community Bookshop will go ahead as it comes under new ownership.

Watchet Coastal Communities Team (Watchet CCT) is now the proud owners of the building having been awarded major funding as well as a successful Community Asset Transfer from Somerset West and Taunton Council.

It will be used to support community activity, including enabling the bookshop to return. This is thanks to funding from the National Lottery both through its Reaching Communities programme and the Place Based Social Action programme.

Watchet CCT has been awarded a £112,000 grant over three years to cover the remaining costs for repairing the building and a new programme of workshops and courses.

A new WCCT project officer will help to design a series of courses that will run in the building during the evenings in the summer, and during the daytime and evenings in the winter when the bookshop is closed.

Jeff and Mary Bird, of Watchet Harbour Community Bookshop, said: “We are extremely grateful for the collaborative effort that will enable us to continue our work of providing funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and give grants to local worthy causes in a refurbished building that will be pleasant and comfortable for our volunteers and customers.

“It has been a long process to get to this point and we are very excited at the prospect of a permanent base.”

The building will be repaired by contractor Walshes and Sons and work is due to start from July, meeting the latest Covid 19 health and safety requirements

Once the core refurbishment is complete, volunteers will be invited to help with the design and fit-out of the building, which Watchet CCT envisages as an “evolution” of the Watchet Community Makers.

Timing of the resumption of bookshop and the new workshop activities will depend on the careful management of the release from COVID 19 lockdown.

John Irven, Watchet Coastal Communities Team CIC director who has been leading the complex negotiations to secure funding and partner contributions said: “I am extremely pleased that at last we are in a position to proceed with this project which is a centrepiece community project for the town, showing how local voluntary groups, National Lottery and our local authority can work together with the community to deliver what it needs.

“I must pay tribute to the help and flexibility shown by Somerset West and Taunton Council, National Lottery, Watchet Harbour Community Bookshop, and all our Watchet Coastal Communities Team colleagues and volunteers to get to this position.

“It is a testament to what can be achieved by collaborative partnership working, and some really good news in this time of national challenge from COVID 19.”

Cllr Marcus Kravis, executive member for assets, said: “Somerset West and Taunton was pleased to help facilitate this project through the transfer of this important community asset and is delighted that the investment needed to bring the building up to standard and progress the new programme of activities has been secured.

“The bookshop has been valued by the community for a number of years. These plans for the future of the building and the services it will provide are very exciting and will ensure that this well used local facility can continue and indeed thrive.”