THE future of Minehead's courthouse is looking ever more doubtful, even though a final decision on whether to close the building has yet to be made.

Steps have been taken to amalgamate the West Somerset and Taunton Deane petty sessional areas, after Minehead's bench of 16 justices was deemed "unsustainable in the longer-term".

The decision to press ahead with the amalgamation was taken at a meeting of the Avon and Somerset Magistrates' Court Committee, in Bristol, on Wednesday.

However, the committee decided to defer making a decision on the future of the actual courthouse until after the publication of the Government's White Paper on criminal justice later this month.

An axe has been hanging over the court since the committee announced plans to cut the number of court rooms in the county earlier this year.

Objectors from all over Somerset attended the meeting to voice their concerns, only to be told by committee chairman Eurof Lewis: "We are at the start of the process and not the end."

He said the committee had to look at the business case for maintaining courts in places such as Minehead, Wells and Frome, but was also investigating ways of retaining a local presence in each of the areas - not necessarily by using existing court buildings.

He said further consultation would be carried out with other criminal justice groups, local authorities and the Countryside Agency before a final decision was taken.