OKEHAMPTON residents were celebrating this week after winning their battle to put the brakes on the idea of building a temporary coach park at the bottom of Wonnacotts Road.

The organiser of a residents? petition has received a letter from West Devon Borough Council stating the site will not be used for coach parking.

The vacant site behind Okehampton Fire Station was proposed as an alternative to land behind Brayhams Terrace at a meeting of the town council last month.

It was backed by councillors, but met opposition from residents, who began compiling the petition.

David Inman, deputy chief executive of the borough council, wrote to Barry Midgley, who started the petition signed by around 60 people in response to his and other residents? fears.

Mr Inman stated in the letter: ?The borough council officers have considered the suggestion of the town council about the use of the site at the bottom of Wonnacotts Road and south of North Road as a coach park.

?However, we do not consider this to be a suitable site and have written to the town council detailing our views.

?There is no intention to proceed with the Wonnacotts Road site for coach parking.?

The borough council has already agreed to spend £12,000 on a feasibility study to look at using land behind Brayhams Terrace for much-needed coach parking for the town.

However, Mr Inman said the borough council was seeing how a present arrangement for coaches to use White House Services on the edge of Okehampton would work out, before taking the Brayhams Terrace proposal forward.

Mr Inman said if an opportunity came up on an industrial site, the borough would look at the possibility of using it for coach parking.

But he said industrial estates tended to be towards the edge of town which was not an ideal location. Mr Inman said the council would continue to monitor the situation.

Okehampton Town Council felt the alternative site behind the fire station was larger, with smaller development costs and was closer to the town centre.

However, Mr Midgley said he was ?pleased? with the borough council?s judgement, saying a coach park on the site would have caused traffic chaos and made the road more dangerous for children.

Okehampton fire station sub-officer Ian Donovan previously told the Times he had concerns about the impact on the level of traffic in North Road if the proposed site was used for coach parking.