OWNERS of a historic building have expressed their gratitude to the council for urging works to be carried out to a neighbouring property.

Taunton Deane Borough Council served an Urgent Works Notice on Mancraft Ltd, owners of Tonedale House, in May 2018.

structural scaffolding has been put up around the historic building, which took more than eight weeks to set up, in order to secure the building.

The council says the owners had been carrying out unauthorised works which undermined the structural integrity of the building.


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A spokesman said: "The scaffolding at Tonedale House is structural scaffolding – this has been installed to help support the building.

"This is in accord with the Urgent Works Notice issued earlier this year.

"With scaffolding in place, the next steps can now be considered."

Owners of nearby Tone Dale House, Ben and Victoria Fox, have expressed their gratitude to the authority for issuing the notice.

Mr Fox said: “We are so pleased to see this hugely positive move forward, especially by Historic England and Taunton Deane Council. We view this as a potential catalyst for the remainder of the site."

Mr Fox, whose family were the historic owners of the site, said this part of Tonedale House was called the Puttee House. 

Around the time of the Boer War it was sub-divided from the main residential part of Tone Dale House and for many years was strategically vital.

Fox Brothers & Co producing more than 12,000,000 pairs of their F.I.P Puttees for WW1 and WW2 and for the civil market.

Tone Dale House, an 18-bedroom property, is still owned by the Fox family and is rented out for events by the Big House Co. The family does not own the factory-facing, derelict section. 

The Urgent Works Notice can lead to an Urgent Repairs Notice if the owners fail, or are unable, to start repairs.

The owners will have the opportunity to plan and repair this important historic building, as per Listed Building regulation, or the council or Historic England can take further action.