The organiser of an awards scheme for Wells revealed his proposals last Thursday night.

Alex Maine, from Street, launched his proposals for the Pride of Wells awards by asking for Wells City Council support, following talks with town clerk Keith Donoghue.

But councillors said that while they would consider becoming involved, they wanted to see a proper business plan and have it presented to the council's finance and general purposes committee before consideration by the full council.

Mr Maine said that he had not been able to prepare a full plan because of his involvement in the organisation of the Pride of Central Somerset awards.

And he said that the awards scheme would have to go ahead before the end of March because he was going to Canada with his fiancee.

Mayor Christina Borastero said that the council would not be meeting to consider the awards before the end of March.

Cllr David Anderson was one of several councillors who wanted more information about the scheme – and he expressed concern about the name.

"I'm not happy with the name Pride of Wells," he said.

"It sounds like a rusty old paddle steamer chugging up and down the Bishop's Moat."

Mr Maine said that the scheme would present certificates to people recommended by the public at an awards ceremony to be finalised or by visiting them personally.

While the Pride of Central Somerset awards had been organised by Mr Maine in conjunction with the Wells Journal's sister newspaper the Central Somerset Gazette, Mr Maine said that this was unlikely to be the case on this occasion.

"We have found that it is not good to work with the local media," he said.

Councillors wanted to know what happened to the money raised by the awards scheme and how the allocation of prizes would work.

Cllr Borastero asked if Mr Maine's organisation was a charity or had a constitution.

Mr Maine said that it did not have a constitution and was not a charity, but that at previous events profits had been donated to charities.

He added: "The awards will go ahead with or without city council support."

And he was confident of the potential for the pride of Wells awards

"The local media will jump on it," he said.

Wells Journal editor Philip Welch said after the meeting that the paper was not planning to work with Mr Maine on his Wells awards scheme.