THE race to redevelop Minehead's Vulcan Road car park has been thrown wide open as West Somerset Council was dealt another blow - Asda-Walmart does not want to open a store in the town. The news was revealed at a behind-closed-doors session of the full council on Wednesday night and comes just weeks after the authority had to cut ties with its preferred developer for the site. As the Free Press exclusively reported in November, the council decided to begin negotiations with Chelverton Developments after its deal with preferred developer Simons collapsed when the company said it would be unable to deliver the land value stated on its tender. Opponents to the Vulcan Road scheme had feared the worst as Chelverton Developments was the only firm to publicly name Asda-Walmart in its proposals for the site. But all that changed on Wednesday, with company representatives understood to have told councillors that neither Asda-Walmart, Sainsburys nor Morrisons wanted to open a store in Minehead. Instead, councillors were asked to consider the possibility of allowing the existing Tesco superstore to expand. The news is not believed to have gone down well with members of the council's ruling Conservative group and led to a decision to reopen negotiations with all the companies which were originally shortlisted to develop the site. The district council's media and public relations officer Stacey Beaumont said the council was "disappointed" someone had leaked the proceedings of Wednesday night's confidential meeting to the Free Press. But she confirmed Asda-Walmart was out of the picture. She said: "Chelverton has confirmed to us that Asda is not interested in the Vulcan Road site. "We hope that this will put an end to previous allegations that the council had already struck a deal with Asda, as this has now been proved to be patently untrue. "However, it was decided that the council adopt a partnership approach with a developer to dispose of the Vulcan Road site, possibly for a mixture of uses, so as to obtain the best overall value for the community. "Chelverton Developments, David McLean and Henry Boot from the previous shortlist will be invited to present proposals to a future meeting." One of the most outspoken critics of the council's Vulcan Road plans, Minehead Chamber of Commerce chairman Graham Sizer said the situation was fast becoming "laughable". When told Asda-Walmart looked to be out of the equation, Mr Sizer said: "There is no demand for a massive retail build. "The only demand is the demand from the council to get money from somewhere, anywhere, to bail itself out. "The next thing we'll hear is that they are trying to sell the idea to Tesco, the very supermarket they insisted needed competition." No-one was available for comment from Asda- Walmart as the Free Press went to print.