RESIDENTS of Okehampton gave a thumbs up to plans for a new cycle route through the town at a meeting in the Charter Hall last Thursday.
Plans for the route, linking the old mill site and Simmons Park, have been drawn up by local architect Alan Vandersteen.
The path will form part of the Sustrans route 27 which stretches from the north of Devon to the south and will follow the line of the river through Okehampton.
Mr Vandersteen said some of the buildings on the site, originally used for fertiliser production, were in 'fairly good order' — but one was in a 'fairly parlous state' and would need to be demolished.
He said this would open up a 'wonderful' stretch of river to view. A series of ramps would cope with the drop in level at either end of the path.
Cllr Joan Pauley, borough member for Okehampton, said she liked the look of the layout but was concerned about the dangers of traffic in the area.
She also thought it was more important to provide coach parking which would attract a lot of people to Okehampton, rather than a facility for cyclists.
'You're going to have very few coming through,' she said.
John Elson of Okehampton Youth Hostel disagreed.
He said: 'The number of cyclists we have had this year at the hostel has been considerably more, sometimes as many as 50 a week. This is going to be a very popular route.'
David Voaden said there was a 'golden opportunity' for the whole area to be redeveloped, not just a section of it.
Gary Pearce said it was 'all very well' building a beautiful, scenic route for cyclists, but they needed secure facilities for their bikes, backpacks etc.
'Surely the idea is to get them to stop here?' he said.
Coleen Herriman, Okehampton's county councillor who chaired the meeting, said people should not 'lose sight' of the fact such a 'beautiful' route would attract many people to the area.
She said opening up the river area in the town had been endorsed in previous public consultations — it was important to take redevelopment of the area in stages, starting with the cycle route because these funds were already available. Fine detail and facilities on the route would be examined later, she said.
David Inman, deputy chief executive of West Devon Borough Council, said Okehampton was fortunate in having a strategic cycle route passing through the town — 'one of the most scenic routes in the entire country'.
He said the borough obtained the site quite recently and was identifying potential community uses for it.
He said the cycle route had to be dealt with separately because there was a time limit on Sustrans funding.
'It's a very interesting and exciting proposal. Not only does it actually provide a route but also access to the river, therefore it brings together a lot of goals and ambitions,' he said.
Mr Inman said opening up the area could also discourage anti-social activity and vandalism in the Mill Road car park.
A straw poll was taken at the end of the meeting — 26 people voted in favour, four against.
Tim Beavon, leisure development manager at the borough council, said he hoped planning consent for the path would be granted by the new year. If all goes to schedule the path could be open by next summer. The project is being funded jointly by Sustrans, the county and borough councils and the EU.