OKEHAMPTON families who wish to register births, deaths or marriages will in future have to make an appointment or travel to Tavistock, under new changes being introduced. The move has angered councillors who are unhappy that the town faces a reduction in its level of service which will allow the boosting of that offered in Tavistock. From the beginning of next month, it is proposed the registrar visits Okehampton for half a day on Monday and Fridays — on an appointment-only basis. Devon County Council says statistics show the registrar is under utilised in Okehampton, which is not the best use of resources Cllr Charles Letchford at Okehampton Town Council's policy meeting last week described the new arrangements as 'fairly unsatisfactory'. He said: 'It seems to me there has been no consultation. We are just being told what is going to happen from January 5.' Cllr Letchford said if Okehampton with its growing population only required the presence of the registrar by appointment, he found it hard to see why Tavistock needed to increase the availability of the registrar to its residents. The registrar currently uses accommodation at the West Devon Borough Council customer centre in St James' Street, and is available to the public on Monday and Friday afternoons and on Wednesday mornings. The registrar will be at Okehampton by appointment only, so if he has no appointments he will be at Tavistock Register Office, based in Tavistock Town Council offices, making more appointments available for people living in that town. Cllr Tony Leech said: 'What we had hoped was that the number of days a week the registrar was in Okehampton would be built on, not be going backwards. 'It is a retrograde step. We must fight to get better services in Okehampton, rather than everything being centralised in Tavistock or Exeter.' Councillors were concerned that the registrar would not come up to Okehampton if he had just one appointment on a given day, and people would probably end up having to travel to Tavistock in many circumstances. A Devon County Council spokesperson said at present the registrar was in Okehampton at set times, irrespective of whether he had any appointments. 'Statistics have shown that he is under-utilised and it is also not the best use of resources,' the spokesperson said. The council said the registrar would be in Okehampton on Fridays between 9.30am and 12.30pm and on Mondays between 1.30pm and 3.30pm, but 'there will be no drop-ins' as all registrar offices work on an appointment system. The spokesperson added: 'The change in arrangements enables us to provide a Monday to Friday service in the West Devon District which wasn't available before.' The committee resolved to write a letter to the District Registration Service outlining its concerns about the changes and the lack of consultation in reaching them. Councillors also decided to write to West Devon Borough Council which currently hosts the service to ask what steps, if any, it had actively taken to try to keep the registrar service in Okehampton on a more regular basis.