YOUNG cricketers from Minehead have bowled over district councillors and secured a vital £50,000 funding package to turn their cricket club's dreams of a new pavilion into a reality.

Around 25 members of Minehead's Cricket Club's adult and youth sections packed into West Somerset Council's meeting on Wednesday over concerns that the club could miss out on the grant.

Young players Angus Marsh and Braden Taylor told councillors the club had over 100 young members alone from all over West Somerset.

"To have a new pavilion near the pitch would make our club so much better," said Angus. "If we don't raise the money we will lose this chance, which will be really sad."

Club chairman David Lethaby said the club had lost its original pitch as part of the redevelopment of land at the West Somerset Community College to provide a site for Minehead's new hospital.

The club now had a new pitch within the college playing fields but it was some way away from the old pavilion which, in turn, no longer met English Cricket Board (ECB) standards.

Councillors were told the ECB had invited the club to apply for a £100,000 grant for a new pavilion, providing it secured £50,000 of separate funding before the end of this month.

"Currently, we have been left without a pavilion and if that is not overcome we could lose the club," Mr Lethaby said.

The trio spoke out after Alcombe district and town councillor Cllr Paul Grierson said last week he was "shocked" by the size of the proposed handout.

He told this Wednesday's meeting that while both he and Minehead Town Council fully supported the idea of financially helping the cricket club, members had not been made aware of the size of the grant being proposed.

He was supported by fellow town and district councillor Les Smith, who said the town council felt "aggrieved" at being kept in the dark about the size of the grant available.

"The concern was that if so much was given to the cricket club, what would be left for the other nine priorities on the town council's list," Cllr Smith said.

But Adrian Dyer, the council's chief executive, sought to reassure both Cllr Grierson and Cllr Smith when he revealed that Minehead was on course to receive over £370,000 in funding from developers to off-set the impact of a range of projects in the town.

Some £156,000 was coming from new homes being built off Bircham Road, around £15,000 was already in the funding pot and an additional £200,000 was on the way from David Wilson Homes as part of its plans to develop homes off Seaward Way .

Council leader Cllr Tim Taylor stressed that cabinet members had fully supported the allocation of the funding to the cricket club, while finance lead member Cllr Kate Kravis said it was important the club did not suffer because town councillors were unhappy with the district council.

"I will not accept that Minehead Town Council had a lack of consultation," she said.

"The town council had a presentation from [cricket club members] who are here now and had the opportunity to ask them questions.

"Do not put in jeopardy the future of this cricket club over some argument about our processes.

"We had a letter of support from the town council, what more can we do?"

Currently, the district council asks all parish and town councils for a list of priority schemes they would like to see funded through developers' 'planning gain' cash.

However, the sums of money involved are not always known until much later in the process as the priority list is also used as a negotiating tool with developers.

Ian Timms, the council's community and housing manager, said Minehead Town Council had written a letter confirming its support for the cricket club's bid for cash towards a new pavilion.

He also reminded councillors that, ultimately, it was up to the district council how much money was spent on each individual project, not parish and town councils.

Cllr Keith Turner said he could only dream about being as fortunate as town and district councillors in Minehead as his ward of Brendon Hills had only ever received just £1,000 in planning gain money.

"I represent seven parishes and we've had £1,000. You're getting nearly £400,000 and you're squabbling about how much money to spend," he said.

"I'm waiting for the time when Minehead says it can't spent any more and the money cascades out so we can have some."

Deputy leader Cllr Chris Morgan said the authority should be doing all it could to help boost sports facilities, especially in the wake of Team GB's success at the Olympic Games.

"There is very little positive impact this council can have on the community at the moment because of our limited finances," he said.

"I am fully behind this. Cricket is a wonderful game, let's take it forward, let's do as much as we can to promote sport."

Cllr Grierson failed to win enough support for his suggestion that the council should only agree in principle to giving up to £50,000 until further consultation was carried out with Minehead Town Council.

Instead, councillors voted overwhelmingly to give the club the full £50,000 after being told there were a variety of other sports clubs and organisations who would be able to use the pavilion, including the town's hockey, table tennis and running clubs, Minehead Rotary Club and children's charity CLOWNS.

Cllrs Grierson and Smith abstained from the vote.