WILLITON'S civic leaders are up in arms at not being consulted over where the new £420,000 Government Sure Start Partnership centre will be situated in the village.

The facility, which will offer support for parents and children under the age of four, has been earmarked for the Killick Way car park but parish councillors slammed the proposals at Monday night's monthly meeting.

Although councillors welcomed the facility, they argued that St Peter's First School would be a more suitable location and would cut out the need for parents pushing prams to trek to the centre of the village.

The Sure Start facility will be able to take 30 children with centres also opening in Watchet and Dulverton while Alcombe will become the headquarters for the project.

Councillors said that only two months ago Williton had been chosen as the base for the project which will create ten jobs in the village including child carers and cleaners.

But the parish council wants the Killick Way car park to be used for the centralisation of West Somerset District Council's offices.

Civic leaders are worried 80 well-paid district council jobs will be replaced by just ten low-paid positions at the Sure Start centre if the district council moves out of the village.

And opponents to the site added that the Sure Start building would also mean a loss of car parking space in Killick Way and could be a dangerous spot for mothers and their children.

The Killick Way site was chosen after the partnership commissioned a consultant to carry out a feasibility study, but planning permission has not yet been sought.

Parish council chairman Cllr Ian Aldridge said: "Car parking spaces are at a premium and should not be lost because the need for spaces is likely to grow.

"The site is too far from schools where families have their children and it is not the right use for that land.

"We want to create employment on that land which we can sustain and not jobs that are low-paid. No disrespect to cleaners, but they are not particular well-paid jobs."

Watchet and Dulverton's centres are planned to be built on school sites but the Sure Start Partnership will be able to seek European grants and funding from the Regional Development Agency if the facilities are built elsewhere.

The scheme will offer child care places for children under four years, along with family support and health promotion facilities including meeting rooms, kitchens and private interview areas.

Sure Start aims to reduce social exclusion, raise educational standards, reduce health inequalities and improve life chances for young children in areas of disadvantage.

The work is being funded by Sure Start West Somerset, the Neighbourhood Nurseries Initiative and West Somerset District Council and should be completed by March 2004.

West Somerset is one of the first rural districts to undertake the Sure Start project and the authority is underwriting £750,000 in costs.

But Cllr Aldridge added: "At every turn, the district council seem to be saying that it is nothing to do with them what the money is spent on.

"If the council is making a possible proposal by putting it on Killick Way car park then they are not listening to what the people want. I would say they want it at the school."

Cllr Robin Venner said: "This is the wrong site for this sort of facility because it will mean parents and their children will be coming to and from the schools and will lead to a bottleneck in the village."

Sure Start manager Frances Evesham said: "We are delighted that the parish council welcomes the scheme but perhaps a little disappointed that councillors were not happy with the proposed site.

"Killick Way was highlighted as the best site in the feasibility study because the buildings also need to be accessible to people outside the ward.

"If we had decided to build on St Peter's School then it would have felt as if it was an education building. No decision has been set in stone but I think it is unlikely that the partnership would want it to go somewhere else."

Mrs Evesham added: "Williton was looked at being the headquarters for the project but there was a strong feeling that Alcombe is growing very quickly.

"It is important for Alcombe to act as a base for access to Exmoor because Sure Start is also about reaching out to the remote areas."