DESPITE last-minute objections from over 20 residents, Watchet Town Council has overwhelmingly agreed to press ahead with plans to move from its cramped Swain Street headquarters into the soon-to-be built Watchet Boat Museum extension.

At their meeting on Monday they voted to apply to the Public Works Loans Board to borrow £30,000, to bring their contribution to the £400,000 project up to £60,000, the balance coming from the council’s capital reserve.

The decision came after councillors heard that the Onion Collective – motivators of the iconic scheme to transform the former GWR goods shed into a state-of-the-art museum and community hub – had formal approval for the £400,000 needed for the project.

This includes £100,000 of grants from two mystery funders, known only as A and B.

Onion Collective director Naomi Griffith said the identity of the funders would be known in the next few weeks. She said there had been in-depth consultations and the immediate priorities were to improve the welcome to the town and provide a community hub.

Heads of agreement will now be signed ready for an exchange of contracts in principle by the end of November. Work will begin before Christmas and it is hoped that the project will be completed by spring 2016

Opposing the decision on behalf of 20 other electors, Emma Boulton, who lives opposite the current council offices, argued that the consultation exercise held by the council was not “public friendly” and was not widely publicised.

She called for a public meeting to discuss properly the proposals, claiming that the council had already decided to locate before last October’s public consultation - “and you were only looking for a show of support as a requirement of the Public Works Loan Board”.

Ms Boulton said that at a public meeting in November last year concept sketches indicated floor-to-ceiling glass, streetscape enhancement and an interesting modern zinc-clad visitor extension, but the current scheme was very different and had been “downgraded to a timber-clad industrial unit”.

“Local residents feel the council has not consulted them over this proposal and it does not have a public mandate to proceed with this plan,” Ms Boulton said.

Dorothea Capper, who lives next door to the present offices, believed there was no need to move as the current premises could be economically improved by converting the council chamber into offices and turning the existing office into a council chamber.

She urged councillors to keep in mind the hardship currently suffered by much of the electorate and not to make a hasty decision.

Cllr John Irven, chairman of the boat museum project working group, insisted that the council had carried out best practice during the consultation process and the results had shown over 90 per cent public support for the scheme.

He said that the council would have a freehold interest in the new offices and a shared interest in the community space with priority use for council meetings.

Running costs would be lower than the existing building, improved workspace for employees and proper disabled access for the public.

Cllr Irven said that £243,200 of the £400,700 funding would come from EDF community mitigation, £57,500 from Watchet Town Council and £100,000 from the mystery funders.

When Cllr Cosmo Johnson said that he felt the anonymous funders’ money should be proven to be in place before the council committed itself, Cllr Irven said that matter would be dealt with at the exchange of contract stage.

Chairman Cllr Peter Murphy said that it was “vitally important to be open and transparent”, to think about the future of the existing council building and have a full public consultation.

“We are open to suggestions on how it should be used in future, but it is a listed building and there are restrictions on what can be done to the exterior.”

But district Cllr Dave Westcott believed it was not necessary to sell the building in order to recoup the money spent on the move to the museum.

“We should think very carefully and consult fully,” he said.

“There must be many uses for the building that would benefit the town.”