Re the sad news that the Blue Anchor Hotel is to close at the end of September, landlady Cara Strom and her team have put everything into saving the hotel, but with no help from the authorities she can no longer afford to keep ploughing money into a building which may not be here next year.

On the verge of Brexit, and at a time when we should be encouraging tourism to the UK, the council, Environment Agency and the highways authorities can see no further than their noses.

The council says it has no money but wastes it on erecting cages of rock on Minehead seafront, which incidentally would have been put to better use to shore up the defences in Blue Anchor.

The slipway remains in a state of disrepair. The hand rails could be replaced and the surface repaired at very little expense.

Then there is the B3191. Why isn’t the highways authority thinking ahead? Fortify the sea defences now and you save the road.

Could we see some response from the authorities whose wages we all pay because so far they are very silent.

Pauline Milward, Blue Anchor.