AN agreement is being drawn up to clearly set out which Minehead sea front street furniture is the responsibility of the town council and which should be maintained by Somerset Council.

It follows confusion after the bankruptcy-threatened unitary authority last year devolved a range of responsibilities to parish councils to cut its own costs.

But, councillors were told day‐to‐day management duties were not set out, leaving, for example, some flagpoles, lifebuoys, and lighting columns on the Esplanade in the ownership of the town council while others remained with the county authority.

To provide clarity, an agreement has now been reached where the town council carries out all checks on lifebuoys and flagpoles and Somerset continues to empty bins and maintain sea front lighting columns.