I am writing to congratulate all those whom attended the Minehead Coastal Communities Team meeting last Monday evening (March 26) at the Beach Hotel.

It was refreshing to see really forthright public engagement and opinions being actively expressed for a change.

For too long now Minehead has languished in backward thinking and inaction over its continuing demise as a viable tourist resort.

Public opinion has not been listened to and progressive ideas for the town have either been unsupported or not permitted due to either our leaders’ inaction or outdated rules and regulations holding the town back.

How lovely it was to see our decision makers taken to task and made to squirm by the unlistened to and the fed up.

We saw new, young and progressive members of Minehead’s embattled community stand up and say enough is enough, whether it is over the logo issue or the many other issues that bedevil our faltering town. 

The decisions by councils or community groups are often made under the surmise that they know better and therefore do not need to listen to the town’s residents.

Years of poor public engagement are also perhaps now coming to an end and I truly hope that the show of community spirit that was evident at this meeting will now become endemic across the whole gamut of Minehead issues and future plans that until now have been ignored or placed into the “too hard” basket.

We cannot hope to reverse Minehead’s decline as a tourist resort if we all continue to sit back and let happen what has happened over the past decade or so.

We need new, young and progressive ideas and personnel to combat the negativity and backward thinking that has become, unfortunately, a feature of Minehead and its governance. 

As one who has tried to stand up and call a shovel a shovel, I am ecstatic to see a forthright and vociferous movement growing across the town demanding attention and real concrete changes for the town.

All I can say is bring it on! And again, congratulations to all who are involved in this embryonic “revolution” for meaningful change.

I just hope our old guard of Council leaders and permission granters take note of this public dissatisfaction and start to really listen to their demands and concretely act upon them.

The past times of inaction and obfuscation are hopefully rapidly drawing to a close and we need this new young blood in our decision making organisations and councils.

Please do not let Monday’s public outcry become yet another damp squib or falter for lack of continued support over the future months and years . . . 2018 has to see the start of a renaissance for the town.

My fingers (and toes) are firmly crossed.

Alex de Mendoza, Marston Lodge, Minehead.