THE Watchet community should take charge of the redevelopment of the town’s 38-acre paper-mill site which has been unused since 2015, rather than wait to see what might happen to it, a ‘Festival for Future Watchet’ was told.

Residents marched through the town with banners to the chained gates of the derelict mill as part of a demonstration organised by community interest company Base for Life where speakers urged that there should be a mixed development on the site including employment opportunities, educational facilities and low-cost housing.

Base for Life chair Liz McGrath and local MP Rachel Gilmour told demonstrators that redeveloping the site to meet local needs was critically important for the community

Developers Stratton Land Ltd acquired the paper mill in September 2023 and went into administration in May last year with £36 million of debts.

A statement issued after the festival said: “The paper-mill has been virtually unused for 10 years, during which time surrounding farmland has disappeared under houses which local people cannot afford.

“Like many places, Watchet has multiple challenges: too few, and mostly poorly-paid, jobs, high house prices and rents, not enough social housing, only distant education and training post-16, and poor transport links.

“Watchet is not alone in facing these issues but it has a rare opportunity in this site, with enough community determination, to do something about them.”

The statement added that community acquisition and management of the paper mill site would be better than “just waiting to see which private developers want to buy which bits of this special site. Community motivations are different. They see the whole picture. There is local expertise and willingness to get stuck in.

“Sources of funding for community action are varied - housing, transport, education, health and well-being, environmental protection, flood mitigation and employment.

In a recent interview Ms McGrath has said: “Our goal is to make Watchet more sustainable. In particular we are focused on finding ways to provide housing which is affordable.

“Most of the houses that are available in Watchet are out of reach of people on local wages. People are living in sheds and caravans or are still living with their parents at 20, 30 or even 40 years old.”

Crowds gathered on the Esplanade during the festival to discuss possible “vision for the future” schemes for the paper mill site, which include:

*An off-site housing-construction factory, making quick, sustainable housing and providing apprenticeships in construction trades.

*Community-owned, good quality social housing for those currently locked out of the housing market.

*A Watchet Further Education Centre, which caters for local people from 14+.

*A local SEND provision.

*Other manufacturing and craft businesses offering employmen.t

*A variety of tourist accommodations.

*Car-parking, with solar panels and wind-power generators built in.

*A large, multi-purpose entertainment complex with swimming, exercise and entertainment provision.

*Management of the Washford River, to prepare for flood risk, enhance wild-life and leisure experiences and generate water-power for local industry and domestic needs

*Protection of the special ecology of the site.