Supporters of Okehampton?s Market Hall gave a vocal defence of the fated building at a noisy meeting on Monday. Mayor of Okehampton Tony Leech at the annual town meeting called for an end to negativity. He said he wanted to see markets continue in the town but in a way that was sustainable for traders and the town alike. The main topic was Okehampton town council?s controversial decision to ask traders to vacate the Market Hall so it could be leased to Cornish firm Merlin Cinemas for conversion into a cinema. Cllr Leech said the council felt there must a forward-thinking business person who could come up with new ideas for alternative venues, themed trading fairs, or open air street events. He said the town could not remain focussed on a single building which the council currently subsidised. Cllr Leech told the gathered public the council could not allow the market in its present form to continue losing money and had therefore decided leasing the building was the best option available. He said conversion to a cinema would also be a way for the building to continue to be put to ?community use?. He said this would be ?a positive move for the town, for families and youth?. He continued: ?The town council has always wanted to keep a market, but it has got to be profitable for those who come to trade, and profitable for the town. ?We are determined to try to keep the precept down and we cannot do that if we are continuing to lose money.? He said members had ?taken a great deal of thought? over the decision, which they judged to be a positive way forward for the town. But the mayor?s call for a more progressive approach to the future of markets did not reassure the supporters of the market building. Beatrice Symm, who previously hired the market, said: ?Does the council really realise just how unpopular the closure of the market is? ?This affects not just older people; my grandchildren said to me tonight: ?Granny, don?t let them close the market?. ?They go every week and they love it. It?s not the market traders? fault business has gone down. It?s the lack of support from the town council.? Another Okehampton resident, Edna Hicks, said she found it difficult to understand how the council, ?as Okehampton people?, was prepared to let the hall go. ?I don?t think any of you have really thought what it does to people like me, who love Okehampton, when you make this decision.? Joan Pauley from Okehampton said she believed it was ?absolutely essential? the town retained its market. Other issues aired at the meeting, held in the Charter Hall, were the need for coach parking facilites for the town and traffic problems in Mill Road at the end of the school day.
