A DERELICT town centre area in Tavistock could find a new lease of life as the site of new homes and offices.
Councillors in West Devon went behind closed doors on Tuesday to discuss a scheme to build offices and homes on the old Abbey Garage site at the junction of Whitchurch and Dolvin roads.
The site is owned by West Devon Borough Council.
A presentation was made to the council's strategic development committee meeting in Okehampton by a representative of King Sturge, a London-based firm of chartered surveyors.
David Incoll, borough chief executive, said: 'There have been two firm expressions of interest by potential developers and members have agreed to receive presentations from both of them.'
Mr Incoll said there was 'a lot of detail' which would be considered by members in the coming months.
'The site should really add to the town centre and enhance it — at the moment it doesn't do that,' he said.
David Inman, borough deputy chief executive, said Signpost Housing Association and West Devon Homes were the two firms interested in the site.
He said the proposals included a mix of social housing and possibly office space on the two-thirds of an acre site.
'The sort of office space we are toying with — and nothing is certain — would be starter accommodation, for people setting up for the first time.
'Obviously, we will be loking at the feasibility of the scheme before we commit to it,' he said.
Cllr David Stapleton, who attended the meeting, could not comment on the detail of the scheme but said he felt social housing was the best option for the site.
'It's social housing we really need. There is a huge gap between supply and demand.
'It's an important site — there's no interest in commercial development there, so I think social housing is right and the only thing for it.'
Cllr Stapleton said it was important the architectural presentation of any development was right for such a prominent site. Noise was also a problem, but he felt that would be taken into consideration during the planning stage.
He said: 'To me, it comes down to a choice between two bidders and whether we can negotiate more of what we want, without raising the stakes too much.'
If the scheme was to go ahead, it would go some way towards plugging a huge deficit in affordable housing in the borough.
A major survey carried out towards the end of 2000 revealed that West Devon needed to provide 363 affordable homes per year to cope with demand from the bottom end of the market.
In his report to the council, Richard Fordham, who headed the research team, claimed this was a 'staggeringly large number' of homes — and a target which West Devon had 'no real prospect' of meeting.
The Abbey Garage site was purchased by West Devon in the 1980s, with the intention of protecting plans to build the relief road.
Some of the site was sold to the county council to form part of the Abbey roundabout and the garage was demolished in the early 1990s. The remaining land has been available for development for the last two years, following its redundancy as a depot area for the Tavistock town centre enhancement works.
Almost three years ago, former West Devon police commander Chris Amos told the Times he was keen to see a new Tavistock Police Station built on the site, which he said had 'a great deal of potential' for such a use.
He confirmed his proposal would be submitted to the chief constable of Devon and Cornwall Constabulary — but no further move on his suggestion has been taken by the police.