Council News & Events
Annual Town Meeting
At the Town Council’s Annual Town Meeting on the 13th May, a member of the public raised concerns that the last meeting of West Devon Borough Council’s (WDBC) Forward Planning and Housing Committee discussed taking away from Tavistock the accolade of 'Market Town'. The member of public felt this to be linked in some way to the core strategy’s plan to build 750 houses in the Town.
The Mayor, Cllr Mrs Mandy Govier, directed the Town Clerk, Col Roger Howard, to ask WDBC for assurance that no such discussions took place, and that WDBC can have no such plans to remove the Market Town title.
Tavistock holds two Royal charters from King Henry I (1105 and 1107) granting it the right to hold Markets and thus be a market town.
WDBC has quickly responded to provide assurance that this is not the case. The reference to Tavistock in the Core Strategy is as a Main Town rather than a Market Town and relates purely to its functional role within West Devon. WDBC have set up a hierarchy which relates to Main Towns, Local Centres and Villages and this does not impact on any status or charters which the towns within West Devon currently hold.
May 13th 2010