THE owners of the Old Hospital and the Minehead Development Trust – which masterminded the community hub project – have abruptly parted company.
It is understood that Bill Howard and Bob Jones, directors of Minehead Old Town Hall Investments (MOTHI), which owns the 128-year-old building, pulled out of their partnership with the trust after an unexpected collapse of talks this week.
Main stumbling block was the owners’ belief that the trust’s plans for the building would transform “what should be an investment into a financial liability – not just for ourselves, but for our children and their children for decades.
“This was clearly something we could not progress.”
This week everyone involved in the ambitious project, which had dragged on for nearly a decade, was dismayed that it had come to a sudden and unexpected end.
The owners described it as “very unfortunate”, a district councillor called it “sad news”, the local MP regarded it as “disappointing to say the least” and a trust member called it “a sad end to nine years of hard work”.
Full story in tomorrow’s (May 13) Free Press