COULD this be the shape of things to come for Minehead Football Club?

A new state-of-the-art clubhouse, modern floodlights and upgraded tennis and basketball courts could be set for Minehead Recreation Ground.

Minehead Town Council has commissioned Colin Johnson from Somerset Activity & Sports Partnership (SASP) to deliver proposals which will give Minehead FC state of the art modern changing and social facilities for its members and will replace the current clubhouse, which would take serious investment to bring up to current health and safety standards and where there is a section closed off due to asbestos.

"The football club has seen the recent successful development of facilities at the Cricket and Rugby clubs and are starting to feel like the poor relation," Mr Johnson said.

"The club is run by volunteers and has teams from Under 7s up to the senior team, as well as a girls team and are keen to get the facilities up to a high 21st century standard."

Residents got the chance at a recent public consultation meeting to view and discuss the proposed plans for the new football facilities at Irnham Road, designed by Louise Crossman Architects.

In addition to the new clubhouse, the plans include new LED floodlights and an upgrade of the existing tennis courts and Multi Use Games Area to encourage more active recreation at the Rec.

The new function room facilities will be large enough to host community groups in need of a base for day time or specific evening use.

If planning permission is granted and funding sourced and approved, the new building would be built alongside the existing one and once completed the old building would be demolished.

Minehead Town Council has already invested in a new play area and public toilet facilities at the Recreation Ground and it is hoped that the upgrade will encourage more community use of the site.

The new clubhouse is being earmarked to go where the current ‘tea shack’ is located adjacent to the current clubhouse.

Feedback on the proposals was generally very positive, although one of the recurring themes brought up by residents who attended the consultation was match day parking, even though it is not strictly affected by the clubhouse proposals.

A number of residents highlighted that on match days players and fans tend to park their cars for free on Queens Road and Irnham Road, rather than pay to use the football club car park, run by West Somerset District Council.

Minehead Town Council believe that re-siting the clubhouse could be an opportunity to bring back a swimming pool to the town and have taken the first steps into looking into whether this is a viable option for the site.