A BID to to reopen public toilets at the Carousel in Minehead has stirred up a storm with traders who were asked to leave a town council meeting making a formal complaint against those who kicked them out.

The traders claimed they were threatened with the police if they did not leave an extraordinary meeting of Minehead Town Council which was called to discuss the future of the Carousel toilets on Minehead seafront.

The main toilets were closed as part of West Somerset Council's last round of budget cuts, although disabled-friendly cubicles at the Carousel remain open and can be used by everyone.

But local businesses are calling for the main block to be reopened in the summer months, claiming closed toilets send out the wrong message to tourists and saying they are needed by both elderly and younger visitors.

Many of those traders attended the special council meeting, which had been called by town councillors Marcus Kravis, Terry Venner, Gary Miele and Danny McGee.

The four had sought to secure £6,000 in town council funding to reopen the Carousel toilets for the summer months.

They also wanted £2,000 to cover the cost of cleaning up sand from the road and pavement along the seafront.

But several councillors were forced to declare prejudicial interests and leave the meeting, including two who had called it - Cllrs Kravis and McGee.

Cllr Kravis owns a business alongside the toilets while Cllr McGee was deemed to have an interest through association with Cllr Kravis as he occasionally works for him.

The excluded traders claimed that town councillors who were also district councillors should have been made to declare interests and leave as it was the district council which had closed the toilets in the first place to save money.

And while members of the public, including the traders, were allowed to speak at the beginning of the meeting, the businessmen and women claim they were then removed from the chamber for the main debate.

The traders denied that they were heckling and disrupting discussions and said they believed they were wrongfully removed from a meeting that was open to the public.

Val Pickard of the Jubilee Café was among the half dozen or so local business people ordered out of the council chamber.

With the support of fellow traders, including John Clyde-Smith of the Beach Hut and Steven Jackson of Merlins, she is demanding an investigation into the way the meeting was conducted.

The traders believe rules were broken and that all members of the public who were at the meeting should have been asked to leave and not just them.

In an official complaint sent to Bruce Lang, West Somerset Council's monitoring officer, the group claimed town councillors had been rude, ignored conflicts of interest and were led by the town clerk and deputy mayor rather than the mayor Val Welch.

"How dare these people treat us with such contempt?" the traders said in their complaint.

"To be treated like the bad guys and naughty little children because we are passionate about Minehead and we care and want to improve the town and all work together.

"We are dictated by a council that is rude, will not listen and if we dare undermine them, we are asked to leave.

"We would like an immediate investigation into . . . the conduct of the town council.

"They appear not be interested in the town, only the town council, the result of which is that the town council is killing Minehead"

Mr Lang confirmed he had received correspondence from the group and was in contact with them.

Neither mayor Cllr Welch nor town council clerk Sue Sanders would comment on the allegations made by Mrs Pickard and her fellow traders.

"Because they have issued a complaint, we are unable to make any comment," Cllr Welch said.

Mrs Sanders did confirm that the town council had agreed to call for urgent discussions with the district council to discuss the future of the Carousel toilets.

The subject is likely to be raised at Monday's meeting of West Somerset Council's scrutiny meeting when councillors are given an update on the devolution of toilets and grounds maintenance services.

In a report to the committee, Adrian Dyer, the council's chief executive, said Minehead Town Council had been fully consulted before the decision was taken to close the Carousel toilets.

He said: "Following agreement by council to the principle of permanently closing a specified number of public conveniences, letters were sent to the relevant parish and town councils asking for their comments, including any possible expression of interest for taking ownership of the facilities.

"Replies were received from Minehead Town Council and

Dunster Parish Council expressing 'no comment'.

"More recently, at a meeting of Minehead Town Council it was agreed to request that an urgent meeting of the joint town and district council devolution group was arranged to investigate possible long-term solutions for securing the ongoing opening of the Carousel toilets during the summer months."

As well as the Carousel conveniences, Porlock's central toilets and facilities in Church Street, Dunster, were also closed by the authority to save money.

Mr Dyer said the council was in talks with Porlock Parish Council to refurbish their conveniences to create two unisex toilets and a workspace for letting with the costs shared between the two authorities.

Williton Parish Council was holding similar talks with the district authority over the future of toilets in Killick Way, while Dunster Parish Council was also now discussing its options to try and secure the future of the facilities in Church Street.

Public conveniences in Blenheim Gardens in Minehead, which had previously been earmarked for closure, remained open following consultation.

Meanwhile, Watchet Town Council had stepped in to save its public conveniences, offering £5,000 towards the £15,000 cost of refurbishing toilets in Harbour Road and paying £3,000 towards the running costs of facilities in Market Street.

Mr Dyer said the town council was now looking at taking over the operation and associated costs of the Market Street toilets.