LOCAL groups are being urged to join forces to try and save a Minehead community centre from closure.

Organisations such as drugs charity Turning Point and help group Somerset Cancer Care have been meeting in the Coach House, in Martlett Road, Minehead, for many years.

But property owners Somerset County Council claim the house is now "surplus to the county's requirements".

As a result, it will either be sold off on the open market or leased commercially.

A spokesman for the county council said no closure date had been set, but the affected groups would have three months to move out once a formal notice to quit had been served.

But voluntary workers are worried they will not be able to find anywhere else as suitable as the Coach House in Minehead.

Graham Story, chairman of the Minehead group of Somerset Cancer Care, is hoping local groups will band together to take on the lease of the building themselves in a bid to prevent the property being sold off.

He has also enlisted the support of local MP Ian Liddell-Grainger to try and force the county council into a re-think.

Mr Story said: "Having looked at possible alternative venues and found that there were none as suitable, secure or discreet for our purposes, we asked our local MP to make a formal protest to Somerset County Council on behalf of all the local voluntary groups which have used the Coach House.

"Somerset County Council has intimated that it may possibly consider leasing the premises to the user groups, but we are aware that many more groups have been discouraged from using the Coach House, or persuaded to go elsewhere.

"I would urge all interested groups that need somewhere to meet in quiet, comfortable surroundings to contact me urgently on 01643 862906 or Mr Liddell-Grainger on 01278 458383.

"These premises were converted at great cost to use as a day centre for the local community and, once gone, will never be replaced."

Mr Liddell-Grainger said he would be taking up the issue in the House of Commons and planned to lobby the county council on behalf of the organisations affected.

He said: "I was absolutely appalled when I was told what was happening. It is as if the rug is pulled from under the feet of these organisations.

"It is simply not good enough for the county council to assume that alternative premises can be found. Even if that were possible at such short notice, some of these organisations must have a place where discretion and confidentiality are guaranteed.

"The Coach House suits their needs and I don't know where there is anywhere else they can go or whether they could afford to accept alternative arrangements offered by the council.

"I think this is a most alarming state of affairs. I have nothing but sympathy for the organisations concerned and I will do anything and everything in my power to help."

Mr Liddell-Grainger added that he was willing to head up a campaign to protect those using the Coach House: "And I am more than willing to take it up in the House of Commons."

The county council said it hoped community groups already using the centre would consider taking on the lease as the authority wanted to give the groups all the help and support it could.