PART of a £50 million Government grant for Somerset Council to tackle flooding issues is being spent instead on a Wellington heritage site.

The council has been struggling to fund restoration of Toneworks, in Tonedale, due to the discovery of asbestos and delays which have seen costs rise.

It has already taken nearly £4.7 million from funds earmarked for the nearby Tonedale Mill site to be used instead on Toneworks, which was the dyeing and finishing centre for the mill’s cloth.

Now, the authority has agreed to use £700,000 of the flooding grant for its major projects team to ‘scope and undertake pre-feasibility studies for the Toneworks development, potentially taking as far as outline design and planning stage’.

The flooding grant has to be spent by September, 2028.