THE town centre office of Okehampton OK Ltd, which lost its key worker nine months ago when funding ran out, could close completely if monies are not found soon.

Okehampton Chamber of Trade members have been manning the office since the departure of town liaison manager Sidney Thompson, in the hope funds would become available for a new programme of work.

But chairman of the company Andy Clements said this week that unless money was found in the short term, the office would close.

Okehampton OK Ltd was set up in 1998 for a number of purposes, mainly to attract new business to the town and help existing businesses thrive. Projects have included running training courses relevant to local business needs, undertaking a town centre survey which fed into Okehampton's Traffic and Enhancement Group and advancing the acquisition of new industrial land.

Mr Clements said Okehampton OK and the town liaison manager had been funded by European 5B money, but this was no longer available.

'At the moment we have not identified where the funding is going to come from, but the most likely source is the Market and Coastal Towns Initiative,' he said.

Chamber members who had been manning the office could no longer do so either because of work commitments, or they were unable to continue on a voluntary basis, he said.

Okehampton is one of the seven Devon market towns, including Hatherleigh, to take part in the Market Towns initiative, in which it has the opportunity to bid for up to £1-million for projects to regenerate the area.

Mr Clements said the town centre office could be a central co-ordination point for the Okehampton projects, but it would be up to the steering committee to decide whether it should be included in the all-important Community Plan.

He visualised it being used in the same way as Deacon's House in Hatherleigh, which housed a development worker to lead the initiative.

'This office is a very useful facility in the town and the location of it is perfect,' he said. 'If it closes, the market towns scheme will still go-ahead but they may very well end up needing to find somewhere similar in the future.'

Okehampton OK is hoping that a community group will part-lease the office so it can maintain a presence in the town in the interim.