ON-street parking in Tavistock town centre was the focus for the manager of the town's business improvement district (BID) last week.

Adam Fleet last Thursday spent time walking the streets of the town with one of West Devon Borough Council's civil enforcement officers, Keith Martin, to see for himself how problems can arise for businesses and shoppers when the streets are busy with cars.

Mr Fleet said: 'Basically I've been getting a real on-the-street feel for the parking problems in Tavistock.

'A lot of issues have been raised by both businesses and residents in respect of the high street and people like Keith have been doing this job for a number of years now, so I think they have ideas we can draw on.

'There's not a great deal we can do to increase the spaces available — it's a historic town that wasn't designed for cars — so it's very much about using the spaces we have more effectively.'

Mr Fleet said he would be meeting with borough, town and county councillors to discuss his findings.

'BID can't do this on its own, it's about working together with key stakeholders,' said Mr Fleet.

'Over the coming months we will be in discussions and hoping to move ideas forward. I've been getting a strong sense that there's a real feeling of partnership between the local authorities and the business on this, in which people really want to work together to solve our problems.'

CEO Keith Martin has been working as a traffic warden, as they used to be known, for some 14 years. He said in that time, vehicle related problems in the town centre had increased a great deal.

'They've got worse because families have more cars now, and people are not considering other road users either,' said Mr Martin.

'People don't really want to walk, that's the problem. We've got car parks, but they aren't prepared to walk any distance and we need to find ways of getting the commercial vehicles in and out of the town.

'It's the businesses that keep Tavistock going, so we have to keep traffic moving freely so deliveries can be made properly.

'Tavistock's a lovely town and people are generally very helpful.

'We are also walking information bureaux, but more than anything we are here to help the public, not persecute them.'