MINEHEAD, the birthplace of legendary science-fiction author Sir Arthur C. Clarke, this week missed out on a £5 million Space Odyssey centre dedicated to the writer.

The centre, which is expected to become an international tourist attraction, will instead be located in Taunton, where Sir Arthur went to school.

Slow-to-respond West Somerset councillors and problems finding an acceptable venue in Minehead were partly blamed for the switch.

Wheelchair-bound Sir Arthur, aged 82, plans to have the centre opened by January 1 next year - an emotive date inextricably linked with his most famous book, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Sir Arthur, who has lived in Sri Lanka for 40 years, has also argued the new millennium does not start until 2001.

A £25 million Space Odyssey centre as a homage to the science fiction guru was mooted for Minehead sea front some four years ago.

Planning worries and National Lottery funding rejection forced several rethinks until a year ago a more modest £2 million scheme was put forward to convert Elgin Towers, on North Hill, Minehead.

However, a campaign of opposition by local residents saw the revised project grind to a halt.

Now, the Sir Arthur C. Clarke Foundation is negotiating to buy a three-storey building in the centre of Taunton and could take possession by Easter.

The building, close to the county town's multi-storey car park, was formerly an art gallery and already has a cafe facility and meets fire safety regulations.

It is well-known to Sir Arthur as it was used as classroom science laboratories when he went to school in Taunton in the 1930s.

He carried out many experiments in the basement of the property, now owned by Somerset Social Services.

Sir Arthur's brother, Fred Clarke, who lives in Bishops Lydeard, was this week in Sri Lanka helping to put the finishing touches to the plan.

Former town councillor Malcolm Higgins was a director of the project to build a centre in Minehead.

He told the Free Press this week: "Obviously, there is a little bit of disappointment that Minehead will not now directly benefit from this very exciting project.

"But on a positive note it is still in Somerset and is going ahead in Taunton.

"Many of the people who will visit the centre will hopefully decide also to come to Minehead as it is Sir Arthur's birthplace and is associated with him.

"So there is still a good chance we will get some benefit from it as well."

Mr Higgins said he was pleased the Taunton project meant Sir Arthur's archive collection of papers and memorabilia could be kept intact.

The valuable collection, known as the Clarkives, will be displayed in the new centre, which has been given the working title Arthur C. Clarke's World of the Future.

Mr Higgins said the main reason for the switch from Minehead was a failure to find a suitable and affordable venue in the resort.

There was also a stronger level of support from Somerset County Council and Taunton Deane Borough Council.

"They really enthused about the project and were really driving it forward, perhaps in a way that was not apparent in Minehead,"said Mr Higgins.

"It was Arthur himself when he came over late last year who questioned the Minehead angle and began pushing for Taunton, as did some of the other directors.

"They felt we would have a much greater chance of securing funding in a larger town like Taunton which benefits from better communications and has larger firms and easier access to cities such as Bristol and Exeter.

"It becomes much easier to convince people that it will be a success with a larger population than in a small town like Minehead."

Sir Arthur, who wants to perform the opening ceremony himself, said: "I am especially glad it will be where I lived during my most formative years.

"This centre will hopefully be a place where people can come face to face with their own future."

Project manager Brian Thomas, a former NASA satellite specialist, hoped the centre would attract serious scientists as well as the public.

Mr Thomas said: "We hope it will be a place where those interested in the future will feel able to work on new projects, seek funding, and find like-minded people."

The cost of the centre will be raised from sponsors, while most of the exhibits will be donated.

It has already won support from NASA, which will provide a number of exhibits, the Science Museum in London, where staff are helping to design the lay-out and acting as consultants, and Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon.

The first-floor of the building will house displays dedicated to the science fiction genre and is expected to include figures from the Star Trek television series, the Star Wars movies, and a Space Odyssey exhibition.

The ground floor will have interactive features revealing how people might live in the future.

It will include inventions by staff of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, some Science Museum exhibits, and an introduction to computer-generated special effects as used in films such as The Matrix.

A basement cinema will show a continuous programme of science fiction films, and there will also be a laboratory for inventors to work on their own projects.

Among the trustees of the project are astronomer and broadcaster Dr Heather Couper and former NASA scientist Professor Gary Hunt.

On the board will be Science Museum space technology curator Doug Millard, British Telecom's head of applied research Peter Cochrane, and DERA's space department director of operations Mike Hammond.