THE regeneration of Wellington’s historic Tonedale Mill could be delayed as Somerset Council may ask the government to extend the deadline for earmarked funds to be spent.

The council secured nearly £20m in November 2023 in the third and final round of the levelling up fund, to be spent on regenerating Tonedale Mill and the neighbouring Tone Works site.

In the ensuing 12 months, the council’s economic development and regeneration teams have been prioritising regeneration projects elsewhere in the county – such as the Yeovil Refresh, elements of the Firepool site in Taunton, and the town deal programmes in Bridgwater and Glastonbury.

The council has now confirmed it may seek an extension from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), allowing it to spend the funding beyond the current deadline of late-March 2026.

Tonedale Mill and Tone Works were once the centre of the mighty Fox Brothers & Co. Ltd., one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of woollen and worsted garments in the South West.

Quaker businessman Thomas Fox acquired the original corn mill on the Tone Works site in 1796, turning it into the finishing works for a business which, at its height, employed 5,000 people.

Tone Works, which closed its doors in 2000, has received around £1m of government funding to decontaminate the land and prevent the existing structures from falling into disrepair.

The two sites are surrounded by green space, with Fox’s Field off Burchills Lane being in public ownership since 2021.

The council will use the £19,987,663 levelling up grant to secure both sites, preserving the existing fabric of the buildings and preparing the ground for new commercial occupants, along with some residential and cultural elements.

The council said it was not able to confirm how much of the levelling up grant had been spent to date – but did confirm that negotiations to purchase the Tonedale Mill site were still ongoing.

A spokesman said: “We will be able to confirm the grant spending to date in a couple of weeks, once we do our levelling up fund monitoring returns.

“March 31, 2026 remains the target date at present for the project, but we are looking at options for requesting an extension.

“We continue negotiations with the landowner at Tonedale Mill, and no date has yet been set for acquisition.”

The council said that it had a design team in place for Tone Works and was about to begin procuring contractors for work on both sites.

Numerous decisions over the site are expected to come before the council’s executive committee within the next six months.

Once the council has completed its regeneration work, any future redevelopment will be taken forward by a third party.

A spokesman said: “The scope of works under the levelling up programme does not require planning applications or public consultation.

“It includes repair and improvement works to specific parts of the site, to protect the buildings and historic machinery, which is a crucial part of the process for bringing these buildings back into use eventually.”