MINEHEAD’S ‘battle of the brands’ escalated still further on Monday when the two sides in the local logo war met to discuss proposed improvements along the eastern end of the seafront.

The packed meeting at the Beach Hotel was called by the Minehead Coastal Communities Team (MCCT) – backers of the ‘Minehead Bay’ promotional campaign – and attended by representatives from business and volunteers groups and local residents.

Shonie Millward-Usher, administrator of the rival Minehead Community Group, said they had submitted a Freedom of Information request to discover how much MCCT and West Somerset Council had so far spent on developing Minehead.

Minehead Community Group, which is marketing a rival ‘Simply Moor to Sea’ logo, claims that over 1,000 people have backed their campaign.

Ms Millward-Usher said her group was seeking an itemised table of expenditure including costs of repairs to the Edwardian seafront shelters and the money spent on RH Design and Flotilla Media when developing the ‘Bay’ brand.

She added: “Over the coming days, formal letters of inquiry will be sent to the Coastal Communities Alliance and to Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

“We question the qualifications of the Minehead Coastal Communities team and we question their authority entirely, given that such large sums of money have already been spent on so far wholly disappointing outcomes.

“What exactly is it which qualifies these select few people to be able to disregard thousands of residents?”

She told the audience, which included Minehead Mayor Cllr Jean Parbrook and other civic leaders: “The Minehead Community Group will continue to investigate the legitimacy of those currently representing this coastal community, fighting for fair, democratic, transparent and accountable representation of locals in all future decision-making processes.”

In a “question and answer” sheet handed out at the meeting, MCCT said that it was unable to change direction on the controversial branding issue.

It said: “Following due process with the tender, a professional company was engaged to develop a brand and together with a brand and marketing group and the CCT, they carried out rigorous market research from October 18 to January 19.

“There was consultation throughout January with residents, business owners and visitors where the people of Minehead made their choice from four brand options.”