THERE was a muted welcome by local representatives for the Government's White Paper 'A Fair Deal for Rural England', published on Tuesday.
The paper promises:
l a 50 per cent rate relief reduction for some village shops, pubs and garages
l £100 million for mobile health centres in 100 communities
l £270 million for post offices, with a pilot scheme launching a range of financial services
l an extra £37 million over three years to regenerate 100 market towns
l £240 million over three years to boost rural transport
l 3,000 new affordable homes per year in rural settlements, bringing the total to 9,000 homes
l local authorities can end the 50% council tax discount on second homes
l £500 million to help farmers diversify.
West Devon and Torridge MP John Burnett said there were some good ideas in the plan but the Government had made it hard to tell how much new money was being offered. 'I don't believe much of it is new,' he said. 'If the funding is not there, it will be very disappointing.'
Okehampton mayor Christine Marsh said it was too early to tell if the town would benefit, but she would be working to ensure that it did.
Okehampton had been mentioned in earlier media reports as one of the towns that would benefit, but she could find no evidence for this in Tuesday's statement.
She was concerned that grants might get eaten up by consultants' fees.
There is also some uncertainty as to whether towns will be given the same treatment as parishes under any new grant allocation.
Tavistock mayor Judith Williams said the town had a good case to be chosen as one of the market towns to benefit, because it had been affected by an out-of-town development and had a lot of listed buildings to be maintained out of its precept.
The town council and West Devon Borough Council will meet next week to discuss how they can secure more government aid.