SIR — Cllr Bridle's letter in last week's Free Press only confirms he seems intent on creating a situation which puts the football club committee at fault.

Either by design or default, the town council has ignored all sorts of correspondence in the last six months.

His letter, in reply to Mr Thresher's frustrated response to Cllr Lennon Wood, outlines some of the activity as if this is the authoritive view. In reality it lists a set of bureaucratic processes the council has followed without taking any action.

Here is an extract from a letter I sent to Minehead Town Council on June 17: "Last Monday the football academy met to discuss football at Irnham Road next season.

"Given the misunderstandings, confusions and still uncertain future, it was proposed that the academy members (representing all age groups who use the facilities) meet with those members of the town council who have responsibility for the lease and the use of the recreational area before the season starts.

"This proposal was unanimously accepted and I was asked to coordinate a meeting as soon as possible. 

The agenda would be: Discussion and agreement on license fees and other costs for the period August 1 2010 to May 31 2011; resolving  health and safety issues; following the consultants' report, an understanding of the future; discussing any other concerns to ensure good communications over the next year.

"I will call in tomorrow to see how quickly this meeting can be arranged."

This and other correspondence, emails and contacts demonstrate how we have been trying to work with elected members, but everything has been ignored until we went public with our concerns two weeks ago.

Why a meeting with this agenda was not arranged is unknown, but what happened next was totally different.

We were summoned to a meeting in the council chamber two days before the start of the season and told we could not use the building.

There was a very heated discussion because they had no understanding of the implications of their decision.

This was a meeting with politicians who had an agenda and were using their power. It was not with a group of volunteers caring about the community as Cllr Bridle claims they are.

Cllr Bridle and colleagues eventually recognised the political impact of being responsible for the demise of football in Minehead and withdrew their verbal eviction, agreeing that we could use the building under very limited circumstances.

There was no minute of this meeting that I was privy to. Therefore, all councillors received a letter from me on October 19 attempting to put some form of agreement in place.

My thanks to the two councillors who replied - sadly Cllr Lennon Wood was not one and everything remains unresolved.

Regarding the asbestos survey, as tenants we have been asking for the landlords' asbestos management plan since before the structural survey in January 2009 pointed it out to them again.

There is no surprise that the building has asbestos, the shock to the council was that it makes pulling it down so very expensive.

Another point in his letter is the accusation that the football club has allowed the building to deteriorate.

As landlords they have the responsibility to maintain the building too, especially the exterior. Maybe if we had held a meeting in June, Cllr Bridle would have been aware of this and all the other issues he raises could have been resolved without this public war of words.

Clearly the relationship, like the building, has deteriorated to the extent that the best solution now is to be allowed to use the building under an asbestos management plan until May.

Then, with a new town council in place, and the establishment of a community trust, we can work with the FA, the Sports Foundation and other funding bodies to develop new, or improve the existing, facilities at Irnham Road for the benefit of all.

This is funding we, as a community group, can access given the right support from a town council.

Cllr Bridle states Minhead Town Council will fundraise. Obviously we would welcome this but I wonder if this means councillors taking part in fundraising activities or increasing the precept?

If it is the former, then they would truly be volunteers.

John Batt,

General Secretary,

Minehead AFC and Minehead Football Academy.