VILLAGERS in Williton are to be re-consulted on plans for a new community hall.

A new charity, spearheaded by Williton Parish Council, has taken over responsibility for the long running project, with campaigners who have been steering it for the past 14 years stepping back to take on a purely fundraising role.

Parish councillors were told at their monthly meeting on Monday that a questionnaire had already been sent out to try and create a database of existing facilities in the village.

Cllr Bill Vaughan said there was no intention to jeopardise their trade.

"We are simply trying to find a gap in the market and to establish which organisations would like to use our facility," he said.

Cllr Vaughan said the questionnaire would be followed up with another to parishioners to test support for a new hall.

"We need to get all this feedback, refresh the data and see where we go from there.'

"The existing data we have is about six years old."

Original campaigners bought a plot of land adjacent to the children's play area in the Memorial Ground which they hoped could become the site for the new hall.

But problems with access mean it is unlikely to be used.

Cllr Vaughan revealed that talks had been held with West Somerset Council about building onto the existing public toilets in the Killick Way car park - which under devolution plans may become the responsibility of the parish council.

He said the toilets would be incorporated into the new hall but the development would mean the loss of around 14 parking spaces, which the district council was not prepared to accept.

But Cllr Vaughan said negotiations were ongoing and the district authority had indicated it was willing to continue to work with the new charity and help where it could.

He also revealed that the £1 million plus building previously mooted would be downscaled to around £800,000.

Cllr Vaughan said this would give the project the chance to bid for Big Lottery funding, although the deadline for the current round was March next year, which would present a tight timescale.