THE sale of Minehead Town Hall for more than £300,000 has been verbally agreed by Minehead Town Council it was announced this week.

Mayor Jean Parbrook was delighted to announce the Town Council had received a bid of £305,677 from Storm Land Securities, a locally based firm.

Initially the council had agreed to sell the building for £251,000 or the highest offer, and Cllr Parbrook said 'she never dreamt' they would get so much for the property.

The town council agreed to sell the building due to the costs it would take to repair the building and put in disabled access and toilets into the grade II listed building.

A spokesman for the council said: "It is not practical for a body which is supposed to represent the area to be based in a building which excludes a section of society, namely disabled people, because we only have stair access to the chamber."

Selling the town hall will see the town council lose 7.8% of its income which comes from tenants who rent business space in the property but believes it will make back this money in savings as it would have cost up to £500,000 to fix the building, plus they will now save on heating, lighting and business rates.

The council has not decided where its new home will be and is currently looking at a whole range of possibilities for renting in the short term.

At Wednesday's meeting Mayor Parbrook said: "Last time we met at an extraordinary meeting we voted to accept the highest offer over £251,000 after advertising the property in the local papers.

"Now we need to find somewhere else to live. We will look at renting in the short term and are looking at a number of possibilities for long term homes for us, but the sale is very good news, personally I never dreamt it would go for so much," she added.

Cllr Terry Venner questioned whether the public should have been consulted regarding the sale, but Mayor Parbrook quickly dismissed this.

"We are a democratically elected body who own this building, and we have democratically voted to sell it. There is no need for the cost required for a public consultation," she said.