VAST swathes of public land could be left to run wild as negotiations over the true cost of maintaining them appear to have ended in stalemate.

Grass cutting, strimming, weed spraying and hedge cutting in around 200 streets across the district could cease within the next week.

And by the end of October, maintenance of flowerbeds and planting displays on Minehead's roundabouts -currently sponsored by local businesses - could also be abandoned.

The Somerset County Council-owned parcels of land have been looked after by West Somerset Council grounds staff under an informal agreement for a number of years.

But whilst the cost of the work - estimated this year to be at least £22,230 - has risen, the county council's level of reimbursement has dropped, with the authority planning to hand over just £3,500 in 2012/13.

Now the cash-strapped district council has decided it cannot afford to continue to pick up the tab, despite accepting that the uncared for areas of land could become a magnet for fly-tippers and that the subsequent impact on Minehead's tourism industry could be high.

Cabinet members will be asked to back a move at their meeting on Wednesday (April 4) to undertake limited maintenance of the Minehead roundabouts and flowerbeds until the end of October because of current sponsorship deals, and to cease maintenance of all other areas of county council land immediately.

Chief executive Adrian Dyer will tell councillors that although the county council has always made a financial contribution, the cost of the work has been higher than the payment.

In 2006/07, the district received £8,593 for the work, rising to £9,357 in 2010/11.

However the current contribution has been reduced to £5,750, with a further cut to £3,500 - just 15 per cent of the true cost - planned for the coming year.

Mr Dyer said the district's precarious current and future financial standing made it absolutely vital that all opportunities to reduce expenditure and/or increase income had to be fully explored.

He said the current cost of providing the service - £22,230 -was the absolute minimum and did not include travelling time, use of plant or machinery or management supervision.

Meetings had been held with county council officers in an attempt to secure an increased financial contribution, with the issue even being raised by the district's lead member for finance and resources Cllr Kate Kravis at executive level.

"On both occasions the answer was that increased funding to a more realistic level was not a possibility," said Mr Dyer.

"The refusal to fully fund the work undertaken, plus the fact that the responsibility to carry out maintenance firmly rests with the county council, coupled with the council's need to maximise savings, unfortunately leads to a recommendation that the district council ceases undertaking any maintenance work on the land."

Towns and villages affected include Bicknoller, Brompton Regis, Brushford, Carhampton, Crowcombe, Dulverton, Dunster, Exford, Holford, Kilve, Blue Anchor, Roadwater, Washford, Porlock, Sampford Brett, Allerford, Stogursey, Watchet and Williton, as well as dozens of streets in Minehead.

Maintenance of the leat in Staunton Lane, Minehead, will also be affected, as well as the verges and banks at the Ellicombe roundabout.

Mr Dyer said that stopping the provision of a service to reduce costs would normally lead to a redundancy situation.

However, he said there was an opportunity to retain the staffing capacity - 1.14 full time equivalent - and achieve savings in other ways.

The 'spare' staff could undertake work that currently forms part of the contract with Veolia - the company that carries out street cleaning and litter removal across the district - and to undertake work for parish councils where the full cost is recharged.

Mr Dyer said discussions to reduce the Veolia contract had already resulted in savings of £30,000 for the coming financial year, with further annual savings of a similar level in 2013/14.

Taking into account other developments, such as the district council's successful bid to take on grounds maintenance in Watchet, the decision not to maintain the county council land would result in annual savings of around £21,300.

Mr Dyer said if the cabinet backed the move, further discussions would be held with the county council to see if it was prepared to make a one-off financial contribution to the cost of continuing maintenance of the Minehead roundabouts.

He said the authority had already been asked to investigate other options for maintaining the other areas of land and had been sent a letter warning of the district council's likely action.

Parish councils had also been warned during discussions that had taken place over the last nine months.

And informal talks had been held with Minehead Town Council because of the potential high impact on the town's tourism industry.

A spokesman for the county council said: "It has never been the case that Somerset County Council entirely fund the high level of grass cutting in urban areas.

"This has always been a decision made by district councils to fund this in order to achieve their priorities regarding the appearance of the street scene.

"District councils, such as West Somerset, have traditionally cut the grass highway verges in urban areas to achieve their aspirations as to the appearance and look of the built up area.

"Somerset County Council's main priority is the safe operation of the road network and, by way of comparison, cuts the grass verges in rural areas once or twice each summer.

"To avoid duplication, the county council has made a contribution to the district councils for them to combine this in their grass cutting programme."