FINGERS are crossed that a site for service buses in Okehampton could eventually lead to a much-needed coach park in the centre of town.

Okehampton OK, which is about promoting the town and its businesses, hopes that with First Western National using the car park behind the Peacocks store in Fore Street as a base, a fully blown coach station could be the next step.

The piece of land was offered to Okehampton OK by a private landowner aware that the town was desperate for a site to accommodate touring coaches.

Following the construction of Waitrose on the site of the old coach park last year, some coach operators have been bypassing Okehampton. The chamber estimates it has resulted in a loss of £10,000 a week to the town's economy.

Member of Okehampton OK Derek Godfrey-Brown said the organisation had taken a licence on the land and entered an agreement with First Western National so they could park their buses on the site overnight.

'We are effectively renting the space and we have obviously got to find the revenue for that — the cost to the bus company for coming in and parking overnight will go some way towards it,' he said.

An application will be made for Central Government funds under public transport initiatives in rural areas.

'What we would like to do is put a bus station in there so that all buses can drop off and pick up from one site — an expanding town like Okehampton should have one,' he added.

Mr Godfrey-Brown said the move by West Devon Borough Council and Dartmoor Railway to put a coach parking facility at Okehampton Station was not the ideal solution because it took people out of the town centre.

'Both Okehampton OK and the chamber of trade have been after provision for touring coaches for some time and when this land was offered it was too good an opportunity to miss,' he said.

Buses would enter and leave the new site via School Way, as they did before when the old coach park existed. The land has space for 12 vehicles.

General manager of First Western National in South Devon Phil Hyatt said the company had to move out of its Okehampton base at Westmoor Foods and if another site had not become available it would have resulted in bus contracts and services being terminated.

'We are delighted with this new location because it is central and we are accessible if anyone has any problems,' he said. 'Our drivers will start their daily duties from there and five buses will be parked up overnight.

'It also means that if other tender services come up for offer locally we will be there to put in a bid for them.'

Officers from West Devon Borough Council and Devon County Council are due to assess the suitability of the site as a permanent coach station and will give a report to the Okehampton Traffic and Enhancement Group.