COACH parking in Okehampton is one step closer, after councillors recommended that the borough council's Off-Street Parking Places Order be amended to formalise the coach spaces created in Mill Road car park. In recent months, West Devon Borough Council has been working with Okehampton Town Council and the Okehampton Vision group to bring plans for coach parking into fruition. Following the demolition of the toilet block in the borough council's car park on Mill Road, three coach spaces have been painted in the car park. The preliminary work to paint the three parking bays was carried out ahead of the summer season in the hope that coach parking will be available for the main holiday season. Following trial runs with 12-metre coaches, it has been decided that one of the three bays is to be removed, giving larger coaches adequate access to the two remaining bays and providing the town with coach parking, a long standing request from town traders. The work carried out thus far to paint the bays and to remove the third bay is £1,200. At least half of this amount will be reimbursed by Devon County Council's Locality Funds. The cost of amending the parking order would also be approximately £1,200, to be met by the service budget. The borough council's community services committee recommended that the full council amends their Off-Street Parking Places Order to formalise the spaces. Cllr Christine Marsh, borough councillor for Okehampton West, said: 'I would like to thank the council very much for taking this forward and being proactive with this issue. The Chamber of Trade in Okehampton is very grateful for this work being done and the coach parking now close to being a reality.' Cllr Terry Pearce expressed his disappointment at the loss of one of the spaces: 'Throughout Devon, Cornwall and Dorset, towns cities and villages offer much more coach parkings. That can be seen regularly in Tavistock, and across the counties. I just wonder with Okehampton, if there are difficulties with Mill Road car park, whether there are any others that could be looked at.' Cllr Kevin Ball, representative for Okehampton East, said: 'As an Okehampton resident, I am sure we'd all love three or more spaces, but there just isn't the room. 'The fact that the town has been trying to get coach spaces goes back longer than I've been a councillor, so this is a start. 'We can monitor it and see how it is being used. There is very little space in the centre of Okehampton for other spaces, but hopefully these will bring more footfall to the town and help our businesses.' If the council does decide to formalise the spaces and amend its parking order, there will be a 21 day public consultation period where residents and interested parties can share their views.