Englishcombe Lane Supported Housing Scheme – Timescale and Costs
Bath and North-East Somerset Council have published their projected timescales for the Supported Housing Scheme (October 2025). No details have been published of the costs, or the Business Case that supports the expenditure. A notional £10m has been allocated in a budget to start the scheme, but this is unlikely to be the full cost.
Schedule
In summary, published timescale at October 2025
Ecological
- Reptile translocation (October 2025)
- Badger sett closure (November 2025)
- Vegetation clearance (December 2025)
Neighbourly
- Ecology Update (December 2025)
- Schedule of boundary conditions (January 2026)
- Quarterly Resident Meeting (January2026 )
Contractor
- Award (November 2025)
- Communication Plan and Construction Management Plan Updates (January 2026)
- Start on Site (Summer 26)
Enabling
- Secure Site (February 26)
- Ground Investigation (Spring 26)
The full presentation is available here.
Separately, officers have indicated a 18 month build timescale, with a further 6 month pre-occupation preparation, suggesting completion mid 2028.
Tenders and Contracts
The council have announced a two-stage Contract award process. The tender opportunity has not been published on the UK Government Find a Tender site, although this is a requirement for tenders of this size.
Contractors known approached to date:
Stepnell Ltd who reported a turnover of £108m with a pt profit of £1m in 2023/4. The Company announced a demerger in 2024, taking the business of Stepnell Holdings Ltd into wholly private ownership as Stepnell Group Ltd. The demerger is currently in process, so no credit ratings are available.
Update February 2026.
It has been stated by the local councillor that a contractor has been chosen. This is without public tender or competitive bids and appears to be Stepnell Ltd. The project is currently 2 months behind the last shared timetable (above), with no work on site since the installation of the reptile fence in October 2025.
Business Case
The Budget submission published 5th February 2026 has finally hinted at the redacted Business Case, previously secret. The cost quoted is £10.9M, but is it is not clear what this covers, how much external funding is expected, how the cost is justified and what is the payback period. There is also no timescale published, but expenditure phasing (below) indicates completion in late 2028.
For clarity, this reads
| Sum of 25/26 Forecast £’000 | Sum of 25/26 Total Current Budget £’000 | Sum of 25/26 Variance £’000 | Re-phasing to Future Years £’000 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Englishcombe Lane Supported Housing | Scheme to provide 16 homes for neurodivergent clients with Learning Difficulties and Autism. Business Case was for £10.9m approved by Single Member Decision E3633 on 11th September, with delegated decision on 19th December to approve funding drawdown and to appoint contractor. | 275 | 371 | 96 | 96 |
All costs are £000’s, horizontal scroll for full row.
| Capital Scheme | Forecast Outturn 2025/26 | Actual / Forecast Spend all years to 2025/26 | Total Budget 2025/26 | Rephasing from 25/26 into FY | New Budget Request 2026/27 | Total Budget 2026/2027 | Total Budget 2027/28 | Total Budget 2028/29 | Total Budget 2029/30 | Total Budget 2030/2031 | Total Cost 5 Years | Overall Project Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 275 | 974 | 371 | 96 | 0 | 0 | 3658 | 5880 | 440 | 0 | 0 | 9906 | 10880 |
In the Cabinet papers of the 12th February there is further information in the form of the Capital Programme by Portfolio – 2026/27 to 2030/31. This projects the total project cost for the Englishcombe Lane Supported Housing Scheme at 2025 prices as £17,892,000 . This is an astonishing almost 300% increase on the original published business case cost of £6.1M at May 2022, the last time a business case was made public.
For clarity, the relevant lines are repeated here. Horizontal scroll for full row.
| Capital Scheme | Forecast Outturn 2025/26 | Actual / Forecast Spend all years to 2025/26 | Total Budget 2025/26 | Rephasing from 25/26 into FY | New Budget Request 2026/27 | Total Budget 2026/2027 | Total Budget 2027/28 | Total Budget 2028/29 | Total Budget 2029/30 | Total Budget 2030/2031 | Total Cost 5 Years | Overall Project Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supported Housing Scheme (Englishcombe Lane and saving initiative) | 0 | 0 | 4,490 | 4,490 | 0 | 3,669 | 11,163 | 2,560 | 500 | 0 | 17,892 | 17,892 |
It is difficult to believe the projected timescales, given that no work has yet started. Added to this, the relatively mild, but very wet winter means that bird nesting has commenced in trees and shrubs scheduled for removal, along with the annual amphibian migration of toads and newts. This may cause delays due to statutory protection of wildlife.
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