A SCHEME to redevelop the Guildhall area of Tavistock has been enthusiastically backed by the town council. Councillors have agreed to contribute £50,000 towards new toilets which are expected to form part of the scheme for a visitors? centre, funding for which is available through the Tamar Mining Heritage Project. It has been stressed that the Guildhall toilets, which are in a bad state of repair, should be knocked down and replaced as soon as possible with the second part of the project following at a later date if the timescales are different. Mayor of Tavistock Jenny Metcalf said the toilets were ?not just indecent but positively dangerous?. ?We need a good facility which will include a really good baby changing and feeding area ? there is nothing like this in town at the moment.? The Guildhall redevelopment is likely to include a tourist information centre and act as a gateway to the town, the river and the canal, plus help position Tavistock within the World Heritage Site. A new toilet block, which has been favoured above a rebuild, will cost in the region of £150,000, the rest of the costs being met by the borough council. Cllr Norma Woodcock said the plans were exciting: ?We get our new toilets and a some interesting modern architecture. Not everything in Tavistock has to be Victorian ? some historical places have been improved with a bit of imagination.? She said other benefits would be a redesign of the car parking area, a relocation of the war memorial and opening up the vista of the river. Cllr Iain Andrews said he was ?totally enthusiastic? about this project which would finish off the vista with a ?stunning new building?. He said: ?It will allow visitors to learn about Tavistock and the surrounding area without having to break down the doors of the pannier market to get inside the tourist information centre. ?We should embrace this wonderful scheme which will see us as the eastern gateway to the World Heritage Site.?
