OKEHAMPTON mayor Cllr Tony Leech hopes a deal can be struck which may yet save the town?s 1930s cinema. Cllr Leech has launched a search for a parcel of land which could be used in a land swap deal to free up the Carlton Cinema in St James Street to be revamped as a working cinema. The cinema was put up for sale by its family owners last year, but sold prior to auction. An application to develop the site for housing was refused earlier this year. Cllr Leech said he had met the site?s new owners to ask if there was a possibility of them reselling it so the town could keep its cinema. Cllr Leech said the owners were a small family firm, who were looking on the development of the site to give them financial security for their future, and as such, were not interested in re-selling the property. But he said the developers had listened carefully to his request and ?could not actually be more helpful?. He added: ?They said they would be willing to have a land swap, provided the land was of a similar size and of the same value.? Cllr Leech said negotiations on a possible land swap were continuing. He said West Devon Borough Council had land for sale at Oaklands and he paid tribute to chief executive David Incoll?s hard work to try and find a way through the ?legal minefield? and make a deal possible. Cllr Leech said the developers had said they would be happy to swap for a suitable plot of land somewhere in Devon, not necessarily in Okehampton. He said he had decided to make the negotiations public at this stage because he wanted to ?get out there and find as many people with land to pass on as possible? to give the venture a chance of being successfully completed. The mayor said even if a plot of land could be found and the cinema left free, funding or a commercial backer to take the cinema project forward would still need to be found. The Carlton cinema has now been closed for 18 months and would require major investment to refurbish the facility. Cllr Leech said the town council would not be spending ratepayers? money to buy the site. ?The town council will not be buying the site and will not be putting money into it,? he said. l Cllr Leech was chosen as mayor-elect for the coming year at the town?s annual meeting in the Charter Hall on Monday. He defeated Cllr Dave Weekes in a ballot of council members present at the meeting. The town?s deputy mayor will be selected at a later meeting.
