IS it possible for those nice people of BID, to remember that Tavistock has never been the 'little village' they are trying so hard to keep hold of.

This isn't a Hollywood-type English village. If you look back at our history, Tavistock was a very industrial town, full of noise and people.

Before they try and turn our town into Candleford, can they have a look at the approach into town, from Plymouth? As you drive past the pretty leafy roads, then the empty shopping area that was Focus, looking worse every day, past the poor old toll house, then worse of all, the Fitzford Gatehouse, what a sorry sight that is, all the history hidden behind weeds and straggly bushes.

Then of course you have to get into the town, very, very slowly, down Plymouth Road, until you get to the mess that is the T-junction of Bedford Square. By this time the impression you have is, what a mess this place is.

So what is the point of making the centre look nice if the first impressions are so bad?

Is it possible that BID could remember who it is that they want shopping in their shops? Yes, us public. Ask us what we want, instead of making our minds up for us. Re-open the Rest Room — that doesn't help the image either, how long has that stood derelict?

What we need is a supermarket that can cope, Morrisons clearly isn't now. If we want more people coming to Tavistock, where are they going to go, Okehampton or Launceston? Having a good supermarket out of town can only be good for jobs and people coming into Tavistock, and also, people who live here, shopping here.

Wake up, council, or whoever it is that thinks they know what we want, it is 2013, not 1913.

Gary Spicer

Buctor Park

Tavistock

IT'S with interest that I've been reading the letters and articles about the proposals for another supermarket on the Plymouth Road, the housing development and the railway reinstatement.

We moved to the area a few years ago from a 'small' market town in Berkshire. What is being proposed for Tavistock has already been implemented there, and the results have been devastating for the town centre and disastrous for road congestion.

The major topics of conversation there are:

a) How to regenerate the town centre and how to encourage people who now use the out-of-town supermarkets back into the town and, because they no longer have to go into the town to do their food shopping, they also tend to go to the major towns like Reading to do any other shopping.

b) How to alleviate the traffic flow problems created by the development of large housing estates.

It will be a shame to see Tavistock go the same way. Maybe the planners should go and spend some time in towns where similar decisions were made, and experience the deserted high streets, the empty shops, and the traffic jams first hand before making and decisions — and rail links won't make the slightest difference because the 'small' town we came from had direct links to Reading and London Waterloo.

G Read

Bere Alston

via email

I WAS interested to see the front page (March 14) and the backlash to the Tesco plans for the Focus site.  

Robert Creber rightly pointed out that the BID, chamber and the council need to work hard to ensure the High Street maintains its appeal; I'm sure we would all appreciate more free parking in the town.  But he also stated that he appreciated there is a place for out-of-town shopping developments.  

Whilst I wouldn't say the Tesco proposals on the Focus site are an out of town development, I would argue there is a place for another supermarket. I currently travel out of the town in order to do my weekly shop – either to Okehampton or Plymouth. Morrisons is always busy and I visit Creber's on special occasions. Therefore, my weekly shop spend is not helping the local Tavistock economy.  

I don't see why we can't have a thriving town centre as well as a new supermarket. There is clearly a need in Tavistock for a new supermarket or else Tesco wouldn't want to spend their money on developing the site.

With help from the chamber/BID we can ensure our High Street continues to attract customers.?The council should approve the Tesco application to ensure people spend their weekly shop money in the town as well as creating new jobs for local people.

Lizzie Eley

Oak Road

Tavistock