PROPOSALS for a butchery shop, local produce store and café on the edge of Hatherleigh bypass have upset some shopkeepers in the town centre who fear it will take away passing trade.

The application for the 257-square metre stone and slate building has been made by the Fishleigh Estate, which lost all its animals in the foot and mouth crisis last year and is presently converting into an organic enterprise.

In a letter to West Devon Borough Council objecting to the proposal, Pete Rocket, of Pete?s Home Bake, said there was already a list of struggling businesses in Hatherleigh.

?The town has suffered greatly with the foot and mouth crisis and many of us still have not fully recovered,? he said. ?This enterprise would be outside the development boundary and take trade away from the town, where shops selling local produce already exist.?

John Entwhistle, of Entwhistle?s General Store, said the town as a whole would be affected rather than him personally.

?We have started to source as much local produce as we can following the BSE crisis when we started a campaign here to buy locally ? on top of that we make all our own pasties and cakes,? he said.

?My fear is that with a cafe and general store as well as a butcher?s shop and a car park on site, people will have no reason to come into the town and this will affect everybody from the bakery to the pottery.?

Michael Smale, who runs an abattoir and butcher?s in Hatherleigh, said he was not very happy about the proposal but felt the town centre itself was suffering from a bigger problem and that was car parking.

?We have a free car park here, but local people insist on parking on the road and the pavements and that it not a great attraction to visitors,? he said. ?Hatherleigh town centre is polluted with cars and that to me is something that desperately needs sorting out.?

Hatherleigh Pottery owner Elizabeth Aylmer said she was not against anyone making an honest living and preferred to look at the proposal positively.

?I say good for them ? I would certainly not put the mockers on it,? she said. ?If the shopkeepers work with the applicants perhaps they would consider putting up some signs to let people know what Hatherleigh town centre has to offer or we could put some leaflets inside their store.

?I think there is room for everybody and I would see it more as a positive thing rather than a negative one.?

Hatherleigh Town Council has asked for further details on the proposal and is concerned about the effects on passing trade. The borough council?s planning officers have asked Fishleigh Estate for a business plan before the application goes before the planning committee in November or December.

Fishleigh Estate has recently received awards for its conservation and habitat programme and in July 2003 hopes to be accredited as an organic enterprise.

Owner of the estate Ian Sargent said he had heavily invested in undertaking the organic conversion and the business had done everything the Government had asked of the farming community.

?We want to add value to the product by selling it direct to the consumer through the shop, via the internet and to local hotels and restaurants,? he said.

?In addition to our own meat we feel we can offer some space to create a showcase for other regional producers ? a selection of the ?best of the west?.

Mr Sargent said he also intended to use the facilities to promote links between farming and conservation.