MINEHEAD Town Council's clerk has been accused of misusing public money after council-employed grounds maintenance staff were spotted removing a "root" from her garden.

A team of two workers turned up at the home of clerk Sue Sanders at around midday on Tuesday in a council-owned vehicle.

A neighbour, who asked not to be named, said the men were there for between five to ten minutes and dug up a small root, swept up and drove off with it at around 11.45am.

But Minehead Mayor defended Mrs Sanders and said the root had already been dug out when the staff arrived and described the affair as an "innocent incident" which happened while the staff were on their lunchbreak.

Mrs Sanders, who is the manager of the grounds maintenance team, confirmed the incident had happened but said she had merely sought advice from the grounds staff and had not expected them to take the root away.

She said the men had arrived after midday and she had offered to pay £12 to the town council for their time - an offer declined by Cllr Smith.

Mrs Sanders said: "We often talk about gardening things here and I said I'd got this root and could they have a look at what I could do with it.

"It wasn't out of their way as they were on their way back to the depot for lunch and they went in and cut it off for me."

She said she had not expected the workers to remove the root as she had only been seeking advice.

She said staff often turned up at her home, sometimes just to hand over or collect keys.

"Once I donated an office chair to the council and they came and put it on their van.

"Then we had an excess of hanging baskets and I put a notice up to say if anyone wanted one, but they had to pay, we all had to pay.

"Minehead is such a small place and we're all transparent here.

"It's the first time they've done anything for me," she said.

But the neighbour said he was horrified that town council staff had carried out work at a fellow employee's home and said he believed it had happened in work time.

"It's a clear misuse of public money," he said. "I rang the town council afterwards and asked if the grounds maintenance service did private garden jobs and they said absolutely not.

"I said that was strange as I'd just seen it done.

"In the past I've seen plants being delivered there and I think her position is untenable.

"She can't just offer to pay. It doesn't excuse it and it doesn't make it right."

Only last week, Cllr Smith sent out a memo to all town councillors warning them not to directly ask grounds maintenance staff to undertake jobs.

The memo was circulated last Friday and said: "I understand that some councillors, both at district and town, seem to think that they have free access to the Minehead Town Council's ground staff and can ask them to do jobs, some of which are not official or have not been approved by their manager, the town clerk.

"In the interest of safety and organisation, this direct approach should stop forthwith.

"Any councillor seeking ground staff assistance should approach the town clerk before any approach to the ground staff is made."

Mrs Sanders admitted the incident at her home might appear to constitute a private job for the council-employed staff and said it had been "bad timing" in light of Cllr Smith's edict.

Cllr Smith was adamant Mrs Sanders would not face any repercussions as the grounds staff were not on "work time" as they were going off on their lunch break.

He told the Free Press: "The alleged digging out of a root is exactly that i.e. alleged.

"In fact, the root had already been exposed and was lifted out for removal.

"This was not at the request of the clerk who was seeking an opinion.

"I see absolutely no reason for the clerk being pressurised into paying money for what is an innocent incident fuelled by somebody who seems to have a grudge and needs to hide behind a cloak of anonymity.

"As for suggesting that her position is untenable, I believe that is absolute nonsense."