What next for Tiverton town centre?

The previous Mid Devon District Council (MDDC) Conservative-led administration had agreed to widen an alleyway between Fore Street and the Pannier Market

A new scheme to regenerate Tiverton town centre has been expedited following the refusal of a previous plan.

The previous Mid Devon District Council (MDDC) Conservative-led administration had agreed to widen an alleyway between Fore Street and the Pannier Market, which would have cost around £1.5million. A new coalition of Independent and Liberal Democrat councillors had since decided to abandon that scheme.

The decision to postpone the scheme was called in for further discussions by the Scrutiny Committee and discussed once more at Cabinet on Thursday, January 13.

The Cabinet resolved to expedite a substitute scheme to be implemented as quickly as possible with a view to improving the Tiverton Town Centre Regeneration Project.

Leader of the Council, Councillor Bob Deed (Cadbury, Independent) explained: “When we as a Cabinet looked at this there were two substantive issues. It appeared there was a large section of the community including Tiverton Town councillors who objected to the scheme.

“We also looked at the financing arrangement in terms of seeing whether the scheme satisfied what we envisaged, which it blatantly didn’t.”

“Then the question was if we should be spending around £200,000 on a part of that scheme where we would widen the entrance even though it would then be widened further when we came to finalise the scheme. We take the view that to waste money unnecessarily was not necessary.”

Cllr Deed said that during the past eleven years, five town centre masterplans had been commissioned.

He added: “If you take the first four, that has cost the Council some £175,000 in costs and they’ve all been written off because, over the last 11 years or so, nothing was proposed to go forward on those plans.

“We’re very mindful of not wasting money. We don’t want to engage any building works which will have to effectively be redone. That is why this has been put on hold with a view of going forward as quickly as possible with the regeneration of that part of Tiverton.”

Councillor Alex White (Upper Yeo, Liberal Democrats) said the administration was listening to the wishes of the people.

“We have been told quite clearly by the representatives of Tiverton Town Council that not only is this a poor scheme, but a waste of money and utter waste of time,” he said.

“Our decision today is we either ram through the decision against those wishes, or alternatively, postpone this and look in detail and what we can do to improve the scheme and make it much better.

“I find it horrifying that people think it would be acceptable to force through a scheme which doesn’t have the support of the elected representatives of the town.”

However, Conservative members of the Council opposed that view.

Leader of the Conservative group on MDDC, Bob Evans (Lower Culm, Conservative) said that the delay would cost £87,471 following consultations. He pointed out the reason for refusing the scheme was because of opinion.

He said: “What facts was it based on apart from opinion? It wasn’t. It was based on opinion. The question asked was answered by ‘we don’t like it’. That doesn’t mean that it wasn’t fit for purpose, and there was no evidence put forward that this was the case. I do think it is for purpose.

“Opinion that ‘we don’t like it’ and ‘it’s not fit for purpose’ were not backed up by fact and decisions should not be based on that.

“If you reject this, what are you going to do? It’s dither and delay; we’re getting used to that.

“You’re going to look for another scheme, but what will that look like? We don’t know yet. Will everybody like that new scheme? It’s highly unlikely. How much will it cost? We don’t know that yet or how it will be funded. How much will that cost at the time, and when will it be ready? We don’t know yet.

“You are faced with the decision of saying to those who we are asking to invest in our towns that as an authority we are saying to the outside world, either yes we are open for business, or we’re not prepared to invest in our towns, but asking them to come with us for any further investment opportunities. It’s not the message I would like to be putting out there.”

Councillor Ray Stanley (Clare & Shuttern, Conservative) added: “This town needs something doing to it. The high street is tired, it’s dire, and it’s not particularly attractive. The basis of this development would have also put accommodation in the town centre; we were looking to put in other properties to encourage people to live in the town centre because that’s what we need to do.

“What you’re doing now is saying you’re not interested. People outside the town will say this town is closed and it could put the final nail into the town.”

Councillor Clive Eginton (Taw Vale, Conservative), who runs a business in Bampton Street added: “I speak with a number of businesses in Tiverton daily who are in a dire state. It will not surprise you that there are businesses within this town which on certain days of the week, do not take a single penny in income. There are businesses in this town who count the number of people through the door on the fingers of one hand in a day. It is that quiet.

“We have to do something as an authority moving forward. The one thing I ask is that we give hope to the businesses that something, at some point, in the relatively near future will happen.”