TOWN councillors in Minehead have accused district planners of ignoring their views.

In a strongly worded letter to West Somerset Council planning manager Andrew Goodchild, Minehead Town Council clerk Sue Sanders said councillors were concerned about the attitude of the district's planning committee and the total disregard to the comments and objections raised by the town authority over a number of planning applications.

"Our planning committee feels very despondent when they make comments regarding plans," said Mrs Sanders.

"They feel that, in general, any comments they make are not taken into consideration and are dismissed by the district council's planning committee when the final decisions are being made."

Town and parish councils are statutory consultees for planning applications but their recommendations or comments are only fed into the planning process as part of reports prepared by planning officers, with the final decision being taken at district level.

Town councillors voiced their concerns at a recent full council meeting when they backed the move to put their complaint in writing.

Cllr Paul Grierson, who is also a district councillor, said there had been several sites in Alcombe over the past ten years, including developments at The Shires and Silvermead, that had been sources of community concerns.

And he claimed the district council's planning department "ignored any legitimate complaints from residents and councillors alike".

Mrs Sanders said the general consensus was that the views of town councillors were being ignored.

Planning applications, such as the recent developments at Woodcombe and Beechfield House in The Parks, were being passed where representations had been made on behalf of the community stating they should be refused.

Mrs Sanders said councillors also felt that certain members of the district council's planning committee did not care about the amount of development in Minehead or the views of the town council's planning committee because the majority of them did not live in the Minehead area.

But their views - and the criticism - was roundly rejected by the district council this week.

A spokesman told the Free Press that the town council's assertion that its comments as a statutory consultee on planning applications were ignored was inaccurate.

"The town council's representations are always included in relevant committee reports, referred to and taken into account by the planning committee during its deliberations," he said.

"If the committee is minded to reach a decision that does not always align with the issues raised by the town council, those issues and any reason why an alternative view is to be taken are always clearly covered in a written report and/or discussed at the committee meeting."