THE defence of a controversial contract to run Minehead’s now-derelict Blenheim Gardens café by Somerset West and Taunton council portfolio-holder Cllr Benet Allen in the Free Press has brought a counter-attack from campaigners.

They claim he is a “lone voice” and the only Minehead councillor to support the award of the contract to William Wynn of the town’s Bar 21 rather than to Minehead Town Council.

Campaigners Steve Taylor and Steve Martyn have applied to the Local Government Ombudsman to investigate the circumstances surrounding the award of the contract to Bar 21 over two years ago.

They also asked the district council’s scrutiny committee to look into the agreement but the committee declined to get involved.

In his defence of the council, Cllr Allen, lead for communications and corporate resources, said the authority had “responded robustly” to the public’s concerns and there was no need for alarm.

He added: “SWT believes that the fastest and most cost-effective route to a resolution is to ensure the operator delivers on their bid.

“We all want the café open to the public as soon as possible.”

Mr Taylor and Mr Martyn described Cllr Allen as “the only councillor in Minehead who believes Bar 21 is a better custodian of Blenheim Gardens than Minehead Town Council.

“He forgets to mention that after submitting their bid, MTC didn’t receive a single phone call. Minehead Connect got the same treatment, unlike Bar 21.

“We fail to see how he can speak with such authority when the asset management team won’t release any information on the process to select a custodian for the café. His article is therefore factually incorrect.”

The campaigners claimed: “Cllr Allen says that the award of the contract was not wrong, but does not explain why he thinks a sole trader with a history of planning breaches is a better custodian of the café than Minehead Town Council. We have asked SWT this question a number of times but get no answer. Even in front of the scrutiny committee the deputy chief executive, Chris Hall, was unable or unwilling to answer.

“The scrutiny committee decided not to investigate but did very pointedly recommend bringing in the Local Government Ombudsman as they believed that they would be able to get to the truth.”

Read more on the latest twist in the cafe saga in this week's West Somerset Free Press