TAVISTOCK?s entry in a major regional competition was last week given a warm reception at Tavistock Town Council?s full meeting. John Taylor, chairman of Tavistock Forward, told the council his organisation had just submitted the Tavistock area submission in the competition to find the best local food town in the South West. The town is up against hot competition from Bridport, Totnes and Honiton in its category of the South West Food and Drink Awards, organised by Taste of the West, South West Tourism, ITV Westcountry, Business in the Community and the Western Morning News. Mr Taylor said: ?As part of this competition, it?s very important to have support from the local authorities. As you are probably aware, West Devon Borough Council recently adopted a new procurement policy which highlights the importance of buying local food, and I was wondering whether you could adopt one yourselves.? Mr Taylor asked the council if it could, where appropriate, use local produce for catering requirements of the town council, for example, in the town hall. ?It will not only help the local economy, it will also help in this competition,? he said. Cllr Alison Clish-Green said: ?I think it sounds an excellent idea. We are very fortunate in this area that we have a lot of very good local produce.? Cllr Jane Ramsey said: ?I think it?s very important ? if we can support things from all over the world, we should certainly support our local producers. Cllr Caroline Keane said it was vital to be seen to be helping local producers wherever possible and said the competition was ?a wonderful opportunity? to insist on doing so. Cllr Brian Trew said the council had already adopted a Freetrade policy, in which it endeavoured to use Freetrade products. ?However, I don?t see any incompatibility between this and Fairtrade ? I don?t think unless there are any coffee makers in the community, that there will be a clash between the two,? he said. Town mayor Cllr Jenny Metcalf liked the idea, adding that French housewives would not dream of buying food and drink which was not produced as close as possible to their doorsteps. The council backed Cllr Ted Sherrell?s proposal that the policy should be discussed at the next meeting of the town?s finance and general purposes committee. Tavistock?s portfolio is currently being reviewed by the assessors in the competition ? a ?low-profile? visit to each community in the running for the awards will be made between now and the end of January. A shortlist will then be drawn up for further review by a panel of celebrity judges and the shortlisted towns will receive a formal visit by the judges between February and the end of March. The winners of each category will be announced in April before the overall winner is chosen around the end of the month. ?It?s certainly a high profile event from a PR point of view,? said Mr Taylor.
