A CONTROVERSIAL planning application to turn the derelict café in Minehead’s Blenheim Gardens into a major restaurant and takeaway, open 16 hours a day all year round, was this week withdrawn by the applicant.

There had been months of strong opposition to the scheme from objectors including Minehead Town Council, Minehead Conservation Society and a campaign group which organised an online petition with, currently, over 170 signatures.

They urged that any future development would see the building revert to a traditional family café and “a haven of peace and quiet”.

Residents were shocked when the cafe, described as “one of Minehead’s hidden treasures”, closed with only a few days’ notice in November 2018. It has been lying empty ever since Mrs Suzanne Dean - whose family had run the cafe for 50 years - was unable to pay the higher rent imposed by the then West Somerset District Council.

Minehead bar-owner William Wynn, had applied to Somerset West and Taunton council for planning permission to extend the building to 1,507 sq ft - double its present size - to include a 100-cover restaurant and a takeaway facility.

Mr Wynn, owner of the nearby Bar 21 in the Avenue, took over the cafe lease two years ago. His application claimed that the lease required him to create more seating, extend the cafe area and repair or replace, the roof, walls and windows.

The refurbished and extended building would be open from 7am to 11pm every day of the year.

In their objection, the town council said the majority of visitors to the original café were the elderly, families with children and local residents who valued it as it as a quiet place for peaceful relaxation.

The new proposals were not compatible with a conservation area, and councillors feared that current problems in the gardens, involving drinking and bad behaviour, would be made worse if there was a bar in the area.

Welcoming the decision to withdraw the application, Minehead deputy mayor, Cllr Toni Bloomfield, said: “What they were planning wasn’t in keeping with the gardens and something more appropriate should be brought to the table.

“There has been very strong feeling in the town - I have never seen a Minehead planning application which attracted so many objections. We can only hope that the planning authorities now realise what the public want for Blenheim Gardens - and that is a traditional café for the benefit of the community.”

Sally Bainbridge, chair of Minehead Conservation Society, which campaigned against the application, said: “I am delighted that common sense has prevailed and hope that all the objections expressed have been taken fully on board by all concerned.

“It is essential that the type of facility objectors want to see operating in Minehead’s beautiful public gardens is put into practice.”

A spokesman for the residents’ campaign group, who asked not to be named said: “We are delighted that the application has been withdrawn - we could not see how it could have possibly gone through - but we believe there will be another planning application going in almost immediately for a slightly scaled down plan, including toilets, which were originally missing in the application.

“We think there are grounds to challenge the legality of the present lease, which would be the only way of stopping this development, and we will be taking this up with the authorities, including Somerset West and Taunton council.”

No-one from the applicants was available for comment by the time we went to press.