HOPES of promoting Wellington as a destination town for visitors have been labelled as “overly ambitious” by a local councillor.

Wellington Town Council has signed up to the Visit Somerset organisation to the tune of £5,500 per year to help market the town as a possible place of interest for tourists.

But Cllr Steve Mercer has suggested that perhaps – just perhaps – the authority is getting a bit ahead of itself.

“I’m trying not to provocative,” he said at the council’s economic development committee meeting on August 12.

But he said that he had recently looked in a tourism book on places to visit and it listed Wellington as somewhere people could spend just an hour or two.

“So is it really worth it for people to journey all the way to Wellington?” he asked. “It’s very laudable what we are trying to do, but I think we’re trying to be a bit too ambitious. I think we’re going for the gold status and I think we will fail.”

Committee chairman, Cllr Keith Wheatley, said: “We are very conscious of not trying to promote Wellington as a destination place to visit like Wells, Totness or Exeter. It would be foolish to do so.

“I understand what Cllr Mercer is saying, but I think what we are trying to do is a modest campaign.”

Cllr Mercer has voiced his concerns previously about going over-the-top about Wellington on the Visit Somerset website.

Back in February he said: “I think the way they talk about Wellington on the Visit Somerset website is too talked-up.

“I’m not being negative because Wellington is a great place for community, but we can’t compete with places like Wells.

“I think people who read about Wellington on that website and then visit the town would be disappointed and wouldn’t come back for a second time.”

Members of Wellington Town Council’s economic development committee agreed on June 10 to carry on working in partnership with Visit Somerset at a cost of £5,500 for the coming year.

It means that more information about things to do, places to stay, eat and visit in Wellington will be included on the Visit Somerset’s website and it is hoped that that will attract more visitors to the town.

But the plan has been criticised from Day One by former Mayor, Cllr Janet Lloyd, and she had not changed her mind when the committee met on August 12.

“I was totally against it from the beginning and I haven’t changed my mind,” said Cllr Janet Lloyd.

“The Visit Somerset website is out of date and why are we paying these people £5,500 if we’re having to do a lot of the uploading of information? I still don’t see what we are getting for our money.”

Cllr Wheatley said: “I don’t think there is a website in the world which is 100 per cent up-to-date all of the time. This isn’t always going to be faultless, but we are making progress on this.”