LIGHT may finally be at the end of the tunnel for Minehead Football Club after years of uncertainty, historic financial troubles and the problems posed by asbestos-riddled buildings.

Proposals are on the table to give the club a longed-for 25-year lease on the Irnham Road ground, while a raft of minor improvements could also be carried out.

The ground and buildings are owned by Minehead Town Council and football club officials and town councillors have not always seen eye to eye.

But since a new town council was formed in May, relations have taken a turn for the better and there is hope the club could finally get the security it has yearned for.

Club and football youth academy spokesman Matt Thresher said things were still in the early stages but the signs were all positive.

He said club representatives had met town, district and county councillors at the Irnham Road ground last month and discussions were going on behind the scenes.

On Monday, members of Minehead Town Council's finance and staffing committee will be given an update and asked to

consider paving the way for a 25-year lease to be drawn up between the council and the club.

Mr Thresher said: "I can't believe how we've moved on in the space of just a year.

"If you'd asked me this time last year where we would be now, I would never have imagined it.

"Everyone is taking a really balanced view and saying it is very much a community building.

"It's early days, but everything is incredibly positive."

He said as well as working towards a long lease which would help the club draw down vital grant aid from organisations such as the Football Association, there were also discussions about carrying out repairs to the buildings.

"We would like to get the changing rooms refurbished and the asbestos sorted out before the start of the season, but we'll just have to wait and see," Mr Thresher said.

As reported in the Free Press at the end of last year, the ground was temporarily ruled out of bounds when the town council discovered asbestos in some of the buildings.

The club was later given the all-clear to use the changing rooms and the pitches.

A subsequent bid by former town councillors to have the site bulldozed "without delay" was also unsuccessful.

Mr Thresher said the football club was now in a "good place" with healthy accounts and widespread support for plans to create a centre of footballing excellence in the county.

Minehead is the only club in Somerset to have seniors and juniors under one roof and the Football Association is known to be keen to finance a scheme to develop girls and youth football in the town.