WEST Devon Borough councillors have supported a variation of planning permission that allows the whole floor area of Taylor's in Tavistock to be given over to the restaurant.

When the restaurant was granted planning permission there was a condition put in place to leave the front part of the building in Market Street as retail floor space as it was in the 'core retail area' of the town.

But members of the borough council felt the condition should be changed so the area could be used as either retail (A1) or restaurant or cafe (A3) floor space and should be retained, as such, in perpetuity.

Members said allowing the existing restaurant use to extend through to the Market Street frontage — the business also has a frontage onto King Street — would enhance the night-time economy of Tavistock and encourage more footfall to the shops in Market Street.

Planning officers had recommended the application by Wessex Heritage for refusal because it was against planning policy.

They said introducing an A3 use into the protected core shopping frontage would 'constitute the piecemeal erosion of retail uses to the detriment and viability of the town centre.'

Thirty five letters of support for the application were sent to the planning authority.