AN application to become a 'Portas Pilot' town with a chance of scooping a share of a £1-million regeneration fund has been submitted by Tavistock Business Improvement District team, ahead of tomorrow's (Friday) deadline.

The BID group held a meeting last Tuesday to bring together ideas to be included in the national Portas Pilot competition, which aims to boost high streets in towns across the country. A further meeting was held on Monday.

Chris Penberthy, manager of Tavistock BID, was delighted with the positive response to last week's meeting.

He said: 'We have all had to work very fast to get the application submitted, but there were lots of really useful contributions.

'There were a range of different Tavistock organisations at the meeting and a real keenness to try and help make things happen which was really very positive.

'People are giving up substantial amounts of time to get the application ready, which shows real commitment by people in the town to making Tavistock even better, and I think that will be one of the strengths of our application.'

Chris said following Monday's meeting, four key thrusts had been identified.

The first was the creation of a 'Tavistock Town Team'.

'This is about providing a vision of strong leadership through a town centre team and forum, the team being a small delivery team and the forum as a way to engage with interested people and organisations in the way that the town centre is developed,' said Chris.

'Totally Tavistock' was taking a holistic view of the town, taking into account community facilities, the town's heritage and its 'unique boutiques'.

Chris said: 'The Portas process is very much about money and the high street — we are saying that Tavistock is much more than that.'

'Thriving Tavistock' is about supporting existing businesses and helping to build new ones, by thinking innovatively about office space, mentoring, and developing stronger links with the town's schools to help nurture home grown young talent.

And 'Tomorrow's Tavistock' concerns pulling together plans to provide an 'over-arching strategic direction' for the town, taking into account the Government's new Localism Act and working in partnership with the town and borough councils.

A town video has been produced to back up the application, which will be able to be viewed on YouTube. The web address was unavailable as the Times went to press, but links to it, and the full Portas Pilot Competition application being submitted by Tavistock BID should be accessible at http://www.tavistockbid.co.uk">www.tavistockbid.co.uk by tomorrow (Friday).

The Portas Pilot competition was launched earlier this year by 'Queen of Shops' Mary Portas and Local Government Minister Grant Shapps. The competition judges will pick 12 UK towns to act as trailblazers for growth and prosperity, on the back of the Portas review of the country's high streets, commissioned by the government last year.