The apartments near Musgrove Park Hospital will provide affordable accommodation in Taunton
C Block of County Hall(Image: Local Democracy Reporting Service / Daniel Mumby)
An office block in the centre of Taunton is set to be transformed into new flats for NHS staff following approval by local councillors. Somerset Council offloaded C Block of County Hall (situated at the southern end of The Crescent) in March 2025, with the proceeds earmarked to fund front-line services.
Prime PLC, a specialist developer of health and care property, submitted revised proposals in November 2025 to convert the 4,600 sq m building into 111 flats, targeted at new recruits joining Musgrove Park Hospital and neighbouring NHS services.
The council’s planning committee west (which oversees major applications within the former Somerset West and Taunton area) has now granted approval to the conversion scheme – though concerns were raised about parking provision and how “cramped” the accommodation will be.
The flats will span eight floors, made up of 99 one-bedroom studio apartments, six two-person apartments and six three-person flats.
Each studio apartment will offer just under 25 sq m of floor space and will feature a bathroom and kitchen/dining area.
Shared laundry facilities will be made available to residents, while a new lift shaft will be installed to bring the 1960s structure up to the requisite fire safety standards.
Just 10 parking spaces will be available on site within an underground car park, with most staff expected to walk, cycle or carpool to Musgrove Park Hospital, which sits roughly half a mile away — approximately a 15-minute walk.
Richard Baum, head of strategic planning at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, set out the case for the development when the planning committee west convened in Taunton on Tuesday afternoon (June 23).
He said: “There is an urgent and growing need for high-quality and affordable accommodation for NHS staff.
“We continue to face sustained workforce pressures; we are actively trying to recruit new staff all the time at Musgrove, whether that’s newly qualified staff, experienced staff or trainees.
“One of the issues we currently face is that there isn’t enough access to suitable housing. We regularly see people accept roles and then struggle to find accommodation that they can afford, and others decline roles altogether because there isn’t sufficient housing in the local area that they can afford.
“When we recruit staff early in their years, they move around geographically a lot. They require accommodation that’s flexible and affordable, and the traditional private rental market doesn’t provide that.
“This development addresses a clear gap that we have and enables staff to live locally in a way that is affordable to them, so that they can remain in their roles, train up in the NHS and keep delivering patient care locally here in Somerset.
“This will allow people to come into our organisation, settle quickly and reduce the pressure they have with commuting. This is an ideal and highly sustainable location.”
The new flats are expected to experience a considerable turnover of residents, with entry-level NHS employees residing there while they train at the hospital before purchasing or renting larger homes locally as they progress through the various salary bands.
Councillor Andy Hadley (Conservative, Minehead) hailed the proposals as “a great idea” but raised concerns about whether the scheme could trigger parking problems in the surrounding streets.
He said: “Yes, people won’t used their cars to go to work, but most people do own a car. What is being done to stop the local area being snarled up with 111 cars all day long?”.
Councillor Nick O’Donnell (Liberal Democrat, Rowbarton and Staplegrove) echoed Mr Hadley’s parking concerns, and expressed doubts over whether the flats would offer sufficient space to ensure tenants enjoyed an adequate quality of life.
He said: “When I was looking at the plans, I was quite concerned about the living space – 24 to 27 sq m, which is 12 sq m below what is marketable.
“If you’re a student living at university, it’s probably more than enough room, but then in halls of residence you’ve got a separate kitchen space. I just think it’s going to be a bit cramped.
“These flats aren’t that much bigger than the average sized hotel room.”
Councillor Caroline Ellis (Lib Dem, Bishop’s Hull and Taunton West) welcomed the proposals, contending that they would smarten up the look of the building while relieving pressure to develop greenfield land on the town’s outskirts.
She said: “It’s good to be using a brownfield site of this kind. We’ve got to be mindful that every single dwelling on a brownfield site, at an accessible location for the town centre, is one less that has to go on precious green space.
“This is serving a burning social and community need, because if Musgrove cannot attract a decent workforce, then we are going to miss out majorly [sic].
“This is very much starter, ‘meanwhile’ housing, to make sure that we remove barriers to the labour market, so people can just get their feet under the table and get started. I can’t see why we would be objecting to this.
“C Block is a minger building – you wouldn’t build that nowadays, would you? – and this might make it slightly less minging.”
Councillor Norman Cavill (Conservative, Monkton and North Curry) was in agreement, remarking: “Quite frankly, a change in the appearance of this building is highly desirable.
“The accommodation is much needed for the hospital, the college and the nurses training at the latter. I don’t think there will be a lack of customers for a long time.”
The proposal was granted unanimous approval by the committee following a debate lasting just over an hour, paving the way for construction work to commence before Christmas.
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