POSSIBLE plans for an out of town supermarket at Tavistock and development of the pannier market came under the spotlight during the annual town meeting last week.

The meeting in the town hall on Tuesday gave an electors an opportunity to quiz the town council on matters which concern them.

Resident Anne Keelan said she was concerned the council was being offered 'sweeteners' by a company interested in developing the greenfield site opposite Bishopsmead — Mercian Developments have put forward ideas to extend the pannier market, alongside its proposals for retail use on the out of town site.

She said: 'What do you perceive to be the benefit to the town? I have a lot of experience of major retail developments and I can't see what the benefit would be to Tavistock.

'One of the reasons why Tavistock isn't a generic identikit town was because it was not big or busy enough to be exciting to the developers of the 50s and 60s, and it's to Tavistock's benefit that it was by-passed then.

'Clearly, change could be very positive — I am interested to know what your vision for Tavistock is, in terms of the way it needs to change, so it moves with the times, without turning into Slough.'

Town resident Kenneth Gilbert said another out of town supermarket would be 'disastrous' for Tavistock.

Town mayor Cllr David Whitcomb said as far as the pannier market was concerned, ideas had been put forward, but at present, they were purely ideas and not plans.

He said the market, a 'jewel in the crown' of Tavistock, had outgrown itself and more space was needed. Any development in this area would be undertaken after consultation with traders and taking into account the historic nature of Tavistock.

Regarding out of town developments, he admitted he had 'sat on the fence' when supermarket giant Sainsbury's had attempted to move to Tavistock several years ago.

So far, said the mayor, Mercian Developments had shown the council drawings, but the council had not discussed them as no formal planning application had been submitted to the borough council.

Cllr Whitcomb said he felt parking and road management were one of the biggest issues faced by Tavistock.

'Most people know I am a great believer in Tavistock as it is — I think you could do some tweaking with the town, but we have to take into account the Listed buildings, the character, the church, the square, etc,' he said.

Cllr Harry Smith, chairman of the finance committee, said the council had supported the very successful Tour of Britain stage last September to the tune of £10,000, £6.500 had gone towards replacing the town's Christmas lights and £2,500 had been invested in flower baskets on the square.

It had also helped provide a new costume for the town crier and supported a wide variety of local organisations with grants, including Tavistock Area Support Services (TASS), the ring and ride service, tourist information centre, Citizens' Advice Bureau, Kingdon House Community Association and the annual balloon fiesta.

Cllr Smith said the council had agreed to freeze its precept for the third year in a row. Despite this, it planned to spend £20,000 refurbishing the town hall floor this year, £80,000 on replacing play equipment in the Meadows and was also putting money aside for land for a new cemetery, for when Plymouth Road Cemetery had reached capacity.

Its other big project this year would be the construction of a new works depot.

'This will not be financed directly from the precept, but by a loan paid back over the next 50 years,' said Cllr Smith.

Andy Lyle, manager of TASS, paid tribute to the council for its financial support, which had helped the organisation extend its local transport service and purchase a new bus.

He said: 'More than 800 people a week use facilities of TASS, so we are very much grounded within the town. The grants have made a big difference to us and help us deliver more than £130,000-worth of activities to people.

'We live in one of the most rural, isolated areas of the country — our vehicles operate all over the town centre and to outlying areas and since the changes with hospital cars, we also help people to get to Derriford and Tavistock hospitals.

'We thank the town council for the grants we have received — they do make a huge difference in the way that people can receive services from us.'