Somerset Council halts Octagon Theatre regeneration 

Somerset Council has put a £30m project to remodel the Octagon Theatre in Yeovil on hold due to rising costs.

At an executive committee meeting on 4 October, the council acknowledged that the current business case for the theatre's regeneration could "no longer be met" and "a revised business case would be necessary".

Councillors promised to “explore all the options” for the venue's future, which has been closed since April, with £1.77m already spent on preparatory works.

Plans to turn Octagon Theatre into Somerset’s ‘flagship arts venue’ were initially expected to cost £23m, with a grant from Arts Council England providing £10m and the remainder due to come from external borrowing.

When the project went out to formal tender in January 2023, the estimated cost had risen to £30.7m. A recent report from the council, which faces a predicted overspend of £26.1m this financial year, found increasing interest rates made the redevelopment “unaffordable”, with repayments expected to reach £1m annually. 

Council officers have been instructed to undertake an options appraisal, in partnership with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and Arts Council England (ACE), to investigate possible plans for the future of the site and create an updated business plan. 

One of the possibilities suggested by the report, would be a cheaper renovation estimated by contractors at £9m. However, this would mean the £10m grant from ACE for the initially approved project would be pulled.

Another possibility is reopening the theatre unchanged, a move that councillors warned could have a long-term negative impact on the arts in Yeovil.

Chris Hall, the council’s Executive Director for Communities, said all the options would be put before the executive committee “as soon as is reasonably and practically possible”.