EXMOOR'S tourism leaders have voiced "grave concern" over West Somerset District Council's decision to join a North Devon and Exmoor Regeneration Company.

Members of the Exmoor Tourist Association say they feel "duped4" by the authority's apparent "reversal of policy".

But council managers say the industry has nothing to fear as the regeneration company is very different from the last North Devon link-up suggested by the council.

Two years ago, the association fought and won a bitter battle with the authority over its plans to hand over the promotion of tourism on the moor to the North Devon Marketing Bureau.

Having originally voted in favour of the merger, councillors were forced into a U-turn and decided to go it alone in the face of overwhelming opposition from the tourism industry.

Instead, the Exmoor Tourism Consortium was set up and charged with the responsibility of promoting the industry to ensure the Exmoor brand name was not swallowed up by North Devon.

But last week's decision by members of West Somerset District Council's cabinet to forge ahead with the creation of a North Devon and Exmoor Regeneration Company has set alarm bells ringing among many of the moor's tourism providers.

They believe the formation of the company could be the first step to channelling European funding away from the consortium and fear the worst for the Exmoor brand.

Harry Crawford, chairman of the Exmoor Tourist Association, said matters had been made worse by the fact the industry had, yet again, been kept in the dark about council activities that could affect its members.

He told the Free Press: "Plans to form a North Devon and Exmoor Regeneration Company signal a major reversal of policy decided two years ago.

"The extraordinary aspect is that the Exmoor Tourism Consortium, to which responsibility for tourism in West Somerset was transferred by the district council last year, has not been consulted.

"Councillors, officers and others appear to have been working behind the scenes 'for a period of months' to restore the position overturned in 2000 following a campaign supported by 87 per cent of Exmoor Tourist Association member businesses in favour of a stand-alone option.

"Instead, the council has thought fit to subscribe to a North Devon and Torridge initiative that may cause tourism on the Somerset side of the county boundary to become absorbed in the promotion of Devon, thus demolishing the stand alone principle so effectively established two years ago."

He said the authority's decision ignored all the work already done by the consortium and could place future projects in jeopardy.

He added: "If, out of this unseemly manoeuvre, the Exmoor brand name can survive intact, all may not be lost.

"However, the possibility that our interests become diminished under the panoply of Devon remains a threat that must cause grave concern among the many businesses that may feel duped by the activities of their own district council."

The district council, meanwhile, is sticking to its guns and stressing it has nothing to gain by joining a company and then trying to take away funding from the consortium.

Chief regeneration and development officer Bruce Lang said the partners behind the new regeneration company - North Devon and Torridge district councils - had not held any detailed discussion on tourism promotion.

But he conceded it was "up to the local partners" if in the future they decided to investigate tourism promotion as they had to "keep all options open".

He said the main aim of the company was to regenerate all aspects of economic life on the moor and said the only way to successfully attract substantial European funding was by working in partnership with other authorities and organisations.

Mr Lang said: "It is good to be seen to be working cross-boundary and our main concern has to be that West Somerset gets the maximum amount of European funding.

"We are supporting the company for a trial period and have not gone into any detail about rural regeneration as that has not been appropriate yet.

"This is nothing like the merger that was suggested two years ago. There is no added value in us taking anything away from the consortium."

The formation of the North Devon and Exmoor Regeneration Company has already been held up as a shining example of 'partnership working' by the Government Office of the South West.

The new company will be responsible for supporting initiatives that help to regenerate all aspects of the rural economy, such as agricultural diversification and tourism.

It will also provide support for enterprise and innovation and try to increase the skills of individuals and businesses to boost regeneration opportunities.

West Somerset District Council has signed up to the company on a three-year trial basis at an estimated cost of around £9,000 per year.