A derelict building near Somerset’s newest leisure centre may not be demolished until the spring, the district council has admitted.

South Somerset District Council recently delivered the new Chard Leisure Centre on the former ACI complex of the A358 Silver Street as part of its flagship Chard regeneration scheme.

One building within the complex – dubbed Building 11 – was retained during the construction, with the council originally hoping to re-purpose as part of plans to relocate the town’s library.

When these did not come to fruition, the council confirmed in September that it would aim to demolish the building around the time the leisure centre opened its doors.

But officers admitted to the council’s area west committee on December 8 that the demolition would now not take place until the spring due to delays in the planning process.

Dan Bennett, the council’s property and development project manager, said in his written report: “The planning application for the demolition of Building 11 is still live and has been subject to delays while the observations of the statutory consultees have been reviewed.

“The fundamental issue with Building 11 is that the cost of renovating the building to a let-able standard is extremely high, while the projected rental income is relatively low.

“This means that the building will not generate a commercial return over the lifespan of any investment.

“Any investment into Building 11 will also potentially direct funding away from securing the future of other historic buildings on site.”

The council originally intended to regenerate Boden Mill and Holyrood Lace Mill under phase two of the Chard regeneration scheme.

While these projects were formally put on hold in August due to lack of funding, the council has expressed its interest in bringing these buildings back into use – hinting in September that Holyrood Lace Mill may attract interest from commercial investors as the transition to a unitary authority moves forwards.

Mr Bennett said he hoped to bring the application before the committee in mid-February 2022, with a view to demolishing being carried out in the spring.

He added: “Members are advised that, although the appearance of the building is detrimental to the local area, the core structure of the building is of historic interest – and consequently Historic England is unsupportive of the demolition proposals.

“Historic England has been supportive of other local projects such as the High Street Heritage Action Zone, so it is vital that we take the time to properly review their observations about Building 11 before formulating a response.”

Historic England provided around £1million of funding towards improving the appearance of Chard town centre, with the money being spent on public realm projects on and around the A30, a two-year cultural programme of events and grants to improve shop-fronts.

Mr Bennett indicated in September that the demolition would be carried out in a manner which would minimise the disruption to leisure centre users.

Speaking at the time, he said: “The contractors are proposing a structural scaffold around the building, where the building is then stripped of all the roof tiles and everything goes down inside the building.

“The building is basically used to contain the rubble and then the height of the building is gradually lowered until it’s level with the ground.

“The houses behind will be protected by the scaffold, and the floor will be secured to keep the dust under control.

“I think a lot of people will be keen to see the back of that building.”