A LIDL supermarket and a new Marston's pub could be coming to Minehead under plans to help West Somerset Council pay off its debts.

The supermarket is being earmarked for the former Aquasplash site off Vulcan Road, while the pub could be built on land close to the new hospital off Seaward Way.

Both Lidl and Marston's submitted the highest bids for the sites, although the district council has not revealed how much they would be willing to pay for them.

West Somerset Council members agreed to consider selling off the very last of the authority's 'family silver' earlier this year in an attempt to pay off a £3.5 million debt.

The former Aquasplash site, the purpose-built visitor information centre on Minehead seafront and land originally earmarked for a new swimming pool off Seaward Way were all marketed for sale.

But while two of the three plots look destined to be sold, the visitor centre could now be leased to a third party by the council.

Cabinet members will meet next Wednesday to discuss options for the trio of sites, with the financial details of each potential deal being kept firmly under wraps.

They will be told 85 'expressions of interest' had been received for the sites, which resulted in 19 formal offers - five for Aquasplash, eight for the leisure land and six for the visitor centre.

Potential uses put forward included food retail, a fast food outlet, a hotel and discount home goods store.

A consortium led by Peter Wellstood of the Pro-Active Lifestyle and Swimming Water Activities Club had also called for the leisure land to be safeguarded as a future potential plot for a new swimming pool.

But Adrian Dyer, the council's chief executive, will tell councillors: "The business case could be best described as embryonic in that whilst it identified the need for a particular type of pool and the estimated costs associated with each stage of the project, it recognised that the key activity would be to raise the necessary funds required, including construction costs of circa £4 million."

Mr Dyer will also warn councillors that a back-up proposal to use land at West Somerset College for a new pool was "no longer an option".

He will tell cabinet members that pub chain Whitbread had also shown an interest in the leisure land and substantially increased its offer when it realised it had been out-bid by Marston's.

Both companies were then asked to come back with final and best offers - with Marston's winning the battle.

Mr Dyer said Lidl had also increased its offer after being told it was the preferred bidder for the Aquasplash site.

Separately, negotiations were continuing with third parties interested in leasing the visitor centre.

"The aim is to report on the conclusion of these discussions to cabinet and council in November," Mr Dyer said.

Councillors will be told that not selling both Aquasplash and the leisure site would result in the council having to find more than £140,000 to prop up its minimum budget levels, while also incurring an extra £42,850 in interest costs each year if the loan was not repaid.

The Aquasplash pool was closed back in October 2007 after the 15-year-old facility sprung a leak, repairs were deemed too expensive and the council said it could not afford to run the facility.

At the time, the authority had still been hoping it could build a new multi-million pound pool as part of the "New Horizons" healthplex scheme, which included the new hospital off Seaward Way.

But within weeks that hope was shattered when a temporary finance chief drafted in following the departure of former chief executive Tim Howes and his deputy Rod Latham discovered huge holes in the council's finances just ten days after taking up the post.

She told councillors she had found a £1 million gap in the authority's budgets and massive savings had to be made.

The council had to pull out of the New Horizons deal - leaving the leisure land, now being touted for sale, vacant - and was left with no choice but to sell every asset possible, including Vulcan Road car park to Morrisons, to pay off its debts.

These included loans of more than £11 million.

As part of the Morrisons sale, a restriction was put on the Aquasplash land preventing its sale for commercial development until October 2012.

Councillors have repeatedly been warned they will be unable to spend any of the money raised in land sales on other projects as every penny is still needed to help the authority recover from its toxic financial legacy.

If cabinet members support the recommendations to name Lidl and Marston's Inns and Taverns as the preferred bidders, local people will be able to have their say before a final decision is taken.

Councillors will be asked to approve putting the draft details of the proposals on the council's website to give residents the chance to comment before a final report on the options is discussed.