THE closure of West Devon Borough Council's offices in Okehampton must be considered as part of the review to streamline the authority's operations, councillors decided last week.

The council has for many years operated from Kilworthy Park in Tavistock and the Oaklands Drive site in Okehampton.

But with the council obliged to provide 'best value', councillors at last week's policy and resources committee meeting considered five alternatives, which included moving wholesale to Tavistock, closing the Okehampton headquarters.

Officers suggested that members chose which options should be studied further, but said they should wait until the future of Okehampton magistrates' court, which sits at the council offices, was decided.

Cllr Nicholas Waterhouse was adamant the electorate would not stand for the council 'going south' and said they should not waste resources considering that as an alternative.

Cllr Roger Mathew said having a two-centre operation was an expense the council might not be able to endure much longer, but although it was very tempting to keep all the options open he said they simply could not afford to consider them all.

But Cllr Gordon Mills questioned how they could choose any of the options without information. He said the most natural solution would 'fall out' when they considered all the options.

Cllr Dick Eberlie said 'ball-park' figures could be arrived at in a few days, and options then selected for closer study on the evidence. He said they could then also consider whether the study could be carried out more cheaply by outside consultants than using a lot of officer time.

Cllr Mathew said he was coming round to that view. He said they could not rule out any of the options on political grounds.

'It would be quite wrong to say they are politically unacceptable. If you rule them out, then you don't do justice to your tax payers,' he said.

At the vote, it was decided to carry out a preliminary study in-house on all five of the options before considering them further.

Mayor Margaret Garton, reminded councillors they would also have to consult widely with both the council's partners and the public.

The five options are:

l Continuing with the current two-site arrangement.

l Moving all staff to Tavistock, leaving a 'shop front' in Okehampton.

l Moving the Okehampton operation to the town's new police station instead of Oaklands Drive, which is considered too small for the council.

l Moving all staff to a neutral base and providing 'one-stop shops' in the towns.

l Moving all staff to Kilworthy Park, with enquiry desks at the new library site in Tavistock and the police station in Okehampton.