PLANS have been revealed to turn a storage shed outside Taunton Station into a shop.

A change of use application outlines proposals to house the On Your Bike charity in the currently vacant Old Stables, on the western edge of the recently renovated Great Western Hotel, in Station Approach.

It previously operated out of a building located opposite the hotel and plans to close a further base in Trinity Business Centre, in South Street. It also has an outlet in St Saviour's Avenue, Bridgwater.

On Your Bike trains and employs "the socially underprivileged ex-servicemen and the long-term unemployed" to sell, service and repair bicycles.

It has recycled or serviced more than 3,000 bikes and helped more than 250 people.

The application submitted to Somerset West and Taunton Council follows the £2.3million refurbishment by the YMCA Group of the 19th Century, Grade II listed Great Western Hotel, into a 15-bed hotel with space for start up offices.

A statement sent to planners for the two-floor building says: "With the main building encompassing the uses as a hotel and offices, the adjacent use of The Stables as a shop will secure an optimum viable use for the vacant building and will create no substantial harm or loss of historic fabric to the heritage asset."

It adds: "With the site currently vacant and in need of renovation, the proposed change of use will rather reverse this continual decline and disuse of the site, with no adverse impacts created upon its character, appearance or setting."

The station is undergoing a multi-million pound improvement project, with construction work starting this summer.

Part of that scheme involves relocating the main entrance to the station from the north side to the southern section, with the ticket office located in the former On Your Bike premises.