MINEHEAD’S flagship Irnham Road sports and community centre project must cost no more than £900,000 and plans for new council offices and public toilets will be put on hold, town councillors decided on Tuesday.

The decision followed behind-closed-doors meetings when councillors were told that changes and additions to the scheme – including £200,000 administrative council offices – had pushed costs way beyond the original estimate of £763,000.

At Tuesday’s meeting, councillors agreed that the office and public toilet options should be deferred and passed to advisory groups, and the community and sports facility capped at £900,000.

The council also agreed to help fund the project with £300,000 from its reserves, to set aside £15,000 for running costs in its 2019-20 budget, rising to £25,000 in 2020-21.

Proposing the successful recommendations, finance committee chairman Cllr Terry Venner said: “Over the last month or so, we have had a number of meetings with all councillors.

“We discussed the whole project and I am now satisfied in my own mind that we should go ahead.”

He said £600,000 of the money would come from other sources but funds for running costs would come from the rates.

“It has to come from the rates. We have to make this building succeed and I am quite happy that we should be doing this.”

It was also agreed to earmark £50,000 from existing reserves for the capital project.

“We need to make sure that once the building is in place there is funding to make sure it is repaired and maintained to a very high standard,” Cllr Venner said.

Proposing that Qube Construction be appointed the project’s main contractor, from five which had put in tenders, ex-mayor Cllr Jean Parbrook said: “I am very glad we are starting to go ahead.”

It was also agreed that the council should investigate setting up a charitable trust to run the community building, with the town council and Minehead Football Club as stakeholders.

Acting town clerk Bryan Howe pointed out that the building would be owned by the town council and rented out to other organisations including Minehead Football Club.

He said that the grants that would fund most of the project were on condition that the building was used for the whole community.