MINEHEAD town councillors are worried that Somerset West and Taunton Council could turn Wellington Square into a commercial enterprise by moving the weekly farmers’ market there from its traditional site in The Parade.

Cllr Terry Venner told last Tuesday’s town council meeting that Wellington Square was amenity land for the benefit of the people of Minehead and was owned by the district council.

It was subject to a covenant forbidding any commercial use, but the district council had now decided to break the covenant by moving the weekly farmers’ market from The Parade to the square from July for a six-month trial period.

Cllr Venner said he had no objection to the trial period but after that the square should revert to being community land. He also felt that the town council should have been consulted before the decision to move the market was taken.

“What worries me is that, if the trial goes well, the district council might want to extend it for other commercial uses, possibly as outdoor facilities for pubs and cafés. I suggest that we write to the district authority asking that the situation be reviewed at the end of six months.

“If it happens without any consultation with the town council, the district council could say ’no-one kicked up a fuss about it; we can carry on letting commercial people use it’, and it won’t be community land any more.

“It’s there for people to enjoy quiet surroundings in the town centre, and that’s how it should be. It’s not there to make money for commercial operations.”

Cllr Mimi Palmer suggested that, if social distancing was still in operation at the end of the six-month trial, it might be extended for a similar period, but only for the farmers’ market.

Cllr Anne Lawton pointed out that, as the district council owned Wellington Square and imposed the covenants, there was a limit on what the town council could do to influence the situation, although it should still make its opinions known.

Cllr Venner told Cllr Lawton: “The concern I’m raising is that if we don’t oppose what’s there, it could become a commercial operation on community land which would not benefit the people of Minehead.”

Councillors agreed to send a letter to the district council expressing the town council’s view of the situation and that it would have concerns if the covenant was not reinstated after a period of time.