OKEHAMPTON residents are being invited to play a part in the development of the town in the next stage of its regeneration project.
Townspeople expressed their views about what projects they would like to see in Okehampton at the 'Big Top' event in November 2002, which kick-started the town's Market and Coastal Towns Initiative (MCTI.)
Now, local resident and architect Nils Westman wants to move the process on by working with local people to produce a Town Design Statement which has an influence on the design of new development and the preservation of historic features.
An open day will be held in the Ockment Centre on February 23 at 7pm where people can participate or simply learn more about the statement.
This is one of the MCTI foundation projects which also include a special needs project, a youth facility and improvements in communications.
Nils Westman said there was a lot of concern about all the development taking place in Okehampton and people currently had little or no say in how it was designed.
'It is important for the community to have a bigger say in what happens here and the design statement will cover all aspects of the town's built environment,' he said.
Mr Westman will give a presentation on how the design statement is put together, why it is necessary and what influence it can have on development in the future.
It will cover everything from town centre history to riversides, traffic and parking, approaches to the town, residential areas and tourism.
The open day will also feature West Devon Borough Council conservation officer Nils White who will talk about Okehampton and its history.
This MCTI foundation project is sponsored by the South West Regional Development Agency and Okehampton and District Chamber of Trade.
Okehampton hopes that in about a year from now it will have developed projects enough to draw down substantial funding from a number of agencies through the MCTI.