A SCHEME to create a new 103-space car park in Tavistock has been shelved over fears it would never pay for itself.

Members of Tavistock Town Council last week agreed the project to create the car park on un-made land it owns in Pixon Lane should be deferred for the time being.

Cllr Ted Sherrell said: 'If we go ahead with this car park, it doesn't matter how we fix the charges, we are going to lose money on it and we will have to take that money from the council tax payer.

'It would have to be at least self-financing to go ahead and it clearly isn't — it's a simple decision to make, it's a stark black and white situation.'

The council was told that around £7,000 had been spent on the phased £700,000 project so far — much of that on experts' fees to establish if the land, originally part of the old Crelake Mine workings, was safe to build on.

The scheme also includes construction of a new council works depot and two lettable units.

Cllr Mandy Govier said the car park project should be deferred, not cancelled completely.

Cllr Govier said: 'When the Boundary Committee makes its final decision on local government reorganisation, we may end up taking control of all the car parks in the area.

'If you look at all the car parks together, it may not be such a financial loss to do the work in that area, if you had the income from the other car parks. It would be easier for us to make a decision to go ahead or completely knock it on the head when we know what the Boundary Committee is going to do.'

Cllr Harry Smith, chairman of the finance committee, said the money already spent on the project had not been wasted, as the information gained about the land and the figures already worked on would be 'very useful'.

However, he felt deferring the car park project at this point was the best option.

Cllr Philip Sanders said car parking was 'a major issue' but financially, the project could not progress.

'However, we should not defer the entire project,' he said. 'It would pay us to go ahead with the works depot, as we are paying substantial sums of rent for a depot that's inadequate.'

Cllr Sanders said the lettable units would also provide income, for a fairly small outlay.

Cllr Anne Johnson backed deferment of the car park — but urged the council not to forget about parking issues in Tavistock.

'The problems are not going to go away and we have to have a clear plan of what we are going to do. There may be solutions that haven't been investigated yet — we must keep working with the car park focus group,' said Cllr Johnson.

The council agreed to continue investigating the creation of a new depot and lettable units on the land. Members will also liaise closely with the town's parking focus group.