June 9th, 2026

Today the first  development contract for the Supported Housing scheme has been published. This was awarded 6 months ago in a closed single bidder event, but has only now been published on the UK Government Contracts finder website. This is part of a two-stage tendering process, where the first contract is awarded to define the specifications and client requirements, hopefully to provide accurate costings and timescales for the second, main, phase.

The value is £397,187.12, Procurement reference BATH001-DN792301-63714539, awarded to Stepnell Ltd. a company taken wholly into private ownership by members of the Wakeford family  in October 2025 following a demerger to separate Construction activity  from Property management  activity as Nyfield Group Ltd. Both Companies are in 100% ownership by members of the Wakeford family. (Source:UK Companies House.)

The previously published timescales for start and completion have now passed, with no news of any revised dates. It is unlikely that the project can now be delivered before 2029, some 4 years later than the original business case envisaged as handover in January 2025. The current approved budget of £10.7m is probably wholly inadequate for the approved scheme, likely leading to  wholesale changes to the much-trumpeted “award-winning” design by Arcadis, or a significant overspend.

Faced with the current budget difficulties requiring over £7m in cuts in this financial year to achieve the Council’s balanced budget aims, progress can only get slower.

Indeed, there is every chance that the deeply unpopular Liberal Democrat led Council will suffer significant reversals in next year’s Local Elections and with a change in Council leadership, who knows what may happen?