A NIGHTCLUB application for Wilminstone Quarry on the edge of Tavistock has provoked opposition from nearby residents who claim the area is ?too rural? to accommodate 500 late-night revellers. It is feared the peace and tranquillity of the Old Exeter Road which leads to the quarry will be lost should the plan by Candebrook Ltd be accepted by West Devon Borough Council. The full application is for a gym, squash courts and a nightclub on a site which already has an existing planning permission for a leisure complex, granted in 2001 to previous owners Trathens. Wildlife surveys in the past have revealed that the quarry is home to bats, badgers and peregrine falcons. Residents say both access roads to the site, the other being the A386, were unsuitable for the additional traffic that would be generated. Old Exeter Road, part of which comprises a cycle route, was already congested with parked cars. Tim Forster, who lives in Old Exeter Road, said it was more than just NIMBYism: ?This is just not the site for a nightclub ? it is dark and wooded with a flooded quarry at the southern end and a viaduct which pose dangers to people who exit the club under the influence of alcohol. ?It is outside the town centre area patrolled by the police at night and will impose an additional financial burden on them ? if indeed resources are available at all. ?A nightclub should be within the town centre where a certain amount of noise from pubs and bars is expected. Wilminstone Quarry is too rural.? ?Old Exeter Road area is extremely quiet during the late evening and at night and additional traffic would be detrimental to residents?. Resident Sue de Glanville said the quarry should be left untouched because it could be a wonderful educational resource for young people: ?Youngsters could learn to canoe and abseil as well as learn to appreciate nature,? she said. ?I would love to see Tavistock College have extra curricular activities in the quarry ? it would be a great loss to the community it if was developed.? Twenty-three letters of objection to the plans have been submitted to the planning authority so far, with ten in support, mainly from residents in the Crelake area who are opposing a nightclub plan for the King?s building owned by Tavistock Community Church. Devon County Council Highways has said it would normally recommend refusal but it was difficult to see how this could be sustained given the decision to approve a similar proposal, contrary to DCC advice, fairly recently. Agent for the applicant Bob Page said it was unlikely the current application would attract any more traffic than the original one. It would also be a membership club so there would be control over the clientele. He said: ?It does not matter where you put a nightclub, there are always going to be objections. The nightclub plans for an urban area of Tavistock have provoked the same objections.? Mr Page said a minibus would be operating to take people to locations in Tavistock as they filtered out of the nightclub at various times, thereby reducing the amount of traffic and alleviating any fears the residents had. He said there would be a security fence around the flooded quarry and a risk assessment of the site would be carried out if and when the application was approved.
