COUNCILLORS in Tavistock have agreed to lend their support to Okehampton Town Council in a bid to create a rail link from Exeter to Okehampton.

At a meeting of the council's finance committee last week, members were asked to respond to a request to support the re-establishment of the Okehampton to Exeter passenger and freight railway service.

Okehampton Town Council said it had undertaken survey research with the British and American Railways, which owns the line, to assess the feasibility of the proposal, and gained positive results.

In a letter, the council said: 'As part of this exercise one of the councillors, Dr Michael Ireland, spoke to several councils once served by the old North Cornwall line to seek their views — there was enthusiasm for the proposal to reopen the Okehampton to Exeter line and for the building of a parkway station to serve the wider hinterland, especially from West Devon and North Cornwall.

'If we are to be successful in getting a railway service to serve the needs of tourism, local businesses and residents, a concentrated effort will have to be made to lobby politicians at district, county and national levels. We will need to demonstrate to train operating companies that there is a demand for the service.'

In the letter, Okehampton Town Council requested that Tavistock Town Council writes to all politicians at the various levels of government who represent the town asking them to support the reintroduction of the rail service; to contact the relevant train operating companies making a case for the railway to serve the community; and to set up a working group in the town to promote the Okehampton to Exeter service.

Tavistock councillor Philip Sanders said: 'I think, and I have thought for a long time, that we should be doing all that we can to encourage the re-opening of the rail link from Exeter to Okehampton with a view to opening the link from Okehampton to Tavistock.'

Cllr Mandy Ewings agreed. She said: 'We should look quite carefully at the actions they have asked. I'm not sure we could do it to all the levels they want. Do we want to write to the MPs and respond to Okehampton Town Council to say that we support them? I'm not sure we need to set up a working group, it wouldn't really be appropriate for us.'

The councillors agreed to write a letter of support to Okehampton Town Council and to write to the two MPs for the area — West Devon and Torridge MP Geoffrey Cox and MP for Central Devon Mel Stride — to ask for their support in the re-establishment of the rail link.

The decision was due to be ratified by the full council on Tuesday night.