WILLITON parish Cllr Ian Aldridge this week launched an attack on the way West Somerset District Council reached a decision over where to centralise its new offices in the village.

Cllr Aldridge, who supports a move to the former Williton Workhouse, said the decision making mechanism was flawed and he asked for it to be investigated by the scrutiny committee.

In a two-page letter to the council, Cllr Aldridge disagreed with the cost implications, the architect's drawings and authorities communication.

West Somerset District Council decided in April to transform its offices in Williton rather than set up in the workhouse because of a £1 million saving in costs.

The council said it would amount to £2,675,000 to develop the workhouse with £1 million being offset by the sale of the Williton and Minehead office.

To upgrade the Williton headquarters would cost £970,000 which would fall to £620,000 after the sale of the Minehead base in Blenheim Road.

Cllr Aldridge said the partners involved in the workhouse re-development first heard about the authority's move to centralise on the existing site in the Free Press on April 7.

"This is no way to communicate with partners with whom the council is supposed to working closely. As a consequence, it would seem the name of the council has been brought into disrepute amongst other professional bodies.

"I am asking that this decision be referred back to full council."

Cllr Aldridge said that while development of the existing site was being carried over 18 months it would lead to "less than ideal working conditions for staff" but the workhouse could be refurbished without disruption.

He added: "The refurbishment of the workhouse, and the grants it attracts, represents a considerable inward investment into Williton and the district's economy.

"A parallel must be drawn with the development of another redundant asset, Watchet docks, and the argument so often cited in its favour is that it is not being acceptable to lose £3.9 million of inward investment from grants."

Cllr Aldridge said if the authority was sited at the workhouse, the existing council base should be made available to businesses and for commercial use.

"While some parts of the central site could become surplus to requirements, these will be small plots and lead to piecemeal development.

"Williton would benefit considerably from being able to attract employers onto this site. It is a golden opportunity about to be missed because it has not been recognised."

At this week's scrutiny committee meeting, Cllr Simon Stokes said: "I was on the cabinet when we discussed this and we said we would not stand in the way of a viable social housing scheme."

Cllr Stokes said West Somerset was in need of social housing but towns such as Minehead were more of a priority than Williton.

"We were told that Magna were very interested in developing the workhouse but after I made enquiries myself I found them to only be just interested.

"I would like to know what the council is going to do. Is our policy to let the building fall to bits, and what are the cost implications so far?

"I am concerned that we will spend money here looking at developing these sites.

"We really ought to know what is happening on one site or the other before we spend lots of money on the two sites."

The district council still awaits the outcome of the four-day public inquiry into the county council's bid to impose a Compulsory Purchase Order on the 19th century workhouse.

If the CPO is given the go-ahead, the county council will hand the workhouse over to the Somerset Building Preservation Building Trust.

The scrutiny committee agreed the cabinet's decision to underwrite the costs incurred by the SBPT if the CPO falls through.