THE news that Tavistock could be boosted by up to £1-million of Heritage Lottery Funding was welcomed by town councillors at a meeting last week.

Members of the town's finance committee heard the Tavistock Townscape Heritage Partnership's bid had been supported by the HLF, securing a development grant of £36,000 in order to progress plans to apply for around £1-million over the next few years.

Cllr Anne Johnson, town mayor, said: 'I would just like to say what enormously good news this is. It's a significant achievement, although there is much still to be done — it's very good news for Tavistock.'

Town clerk Carl Hearn said: 'This means the HLF will have ring-fenced a little over a million pounds for a project in Tavistock.

'The partnership now needs to look at different aspects of the bid and appoint a project manager.'

The project will help transform parts of the historic core of Tavistock over the next five to six years with the aim of helping to improve the town's economy through conservation works.

Re-roofing of the pannier market and the former auction rooms are key aims, with owners and tenants of other historic buildings in the town able to apply for grants to help with renovations and restoration of historic features.

The townscape partnership now has 12 months to submit a second-round bid which could mean a total investment of more than £2-million by 2019. The grant will be administered by Tavistock Town Council

Mr Hearn said: 'The HLF has very specific criteria which have to be met in order for the monies to be drawn down.

'The work is really just beginning — it's going to be a very major project which will take a considerable amount of time, which will have an impact on our workforce.'

Cllr Mandy Ewings said the work to try and secure monies from the HLF under its heritage initiative programme had been started some nine years ago.

'It shows you have to keep pressing and pushing forward. A few years ago it looked like it was all going to fall apart but we had the commitment to keep going — it's fantastic news,' she said.