A BAN on a proposed stall in Tavistock Pannier Market was this week slammed as ?narrow-minded? and ?politically selective? by a furious community group.

Tavistock Peace Action Group heard last Friday that its request for an information stall in the market had been rejected by Tavistock Town Council ? a request which had been granted in the past.

Town clerk Roger Howard said: ?We have refused them permission to hold a stall in the pannier market because we are not allowed to by law. The Local Government Act forbids all local authorities to aid and assist political-type groups.

?They can use Bedford Square but they can?t use any building owned by this council.?

Col Howard said ?an unfortunate mistake? was made when the peace action group was given permission to use the pannier market on previous occasions.

?We apologise for that; the officer concerned did not realise the implications, but we cannot repeat that decision. We totally appreciate the group is not a political party as such, but they are trying to influence the government, they are running a campaign that has a political bias,? said Col Howard.

Martin Mowforth of Tavistock Peace Action Group said the decision was ?politically motivated and selective?.

Mr Mowforth said: ?We are a community group which cuts across society in many different ways; religiously and socially, although we deal with contentious political issues.

?Will such an approach by the town council be applied to groups like Oxfam, the Santa Rosa Fund or the RSPCA because they are dealing with political issues?

?I don?t think they realise what they have done and how short-sighted and narrow-minded they are being.?

Cllr Marjorie Corner, mayor of Tavistock, said: ?From time to time there will be all sorts of different activities happening in the market. I think this started because somebody had reason to make some adverse comment and once attention was drawn to it, rightly or wrongly, it was examined.?

Cllr Corner said the peace group was ?political with a small p? and it was ?not right? for the group to use the pannier market, which was essentially a commercial centre.

She had no comment to make on previous occasions when the building had been used for political purposes ? for example, Conservative parliamentary spokesman for West Devon Geoffrey Cox chose the pannier market to launch his campaign against the imposition of metric weights and measures in April 2000.

Alex Wood, the TPAG member who tried to make the pannier market booking, said: ?This is not a level playing field. Other community groups have been allowed stalls without problems ? we get banned.?

He said the council was not being ?even-handed? and said TPAG would challenge the decision as being contrary to the Human Rights Act ? the issue and the way forward will be discussed when the group meets next Wednesday.

TPAG has organised the gathering for peace in Bedford Square on Saturday specifically for those unable to attend the anticipated huge anti-war rally in London.

The gathering will take place between 11am and 1pm. For those who are able to travel to London, TPAG has booked a fourth coach, following exceptional demand for space.

l Two petitions against war with Iraq were recently presented by Tavistock Peace Action Group to Clare Short MP, Secretary of State for International Development, at her offices in London.

The first petition was a one-day petition of 194 signatures collected by the peace group on their stall in Tavistock Pannier Market on February 1.

The second petition was from Tavistock Community College Amnesty Group, who collected 238 signatures from sixth-formers ? out of 330 at the college.

The petitions were presented to Ms Short by Alex Wood during the meeting set up by West Devon and Torridge MP John Burnett.