TAVISTOCK Town Council members have voted unanimously to proceed with a project to protect and develop the town’s iconic guildhall complex of buildings.

Councillors gathered at a special meeting of the town council on Monday (April 23) and considered the grant offer made recently by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) of £817,800 towards the £1.645-million project.

The Times reported last week (April 19) that HLF had awarded the grant for the project, which was being led by the town council, in partnership with Tavistock Heritage Trust (THT), and would provide a gateway centre for the Cornwall and West Devon Mining World Heritage Site with the facility for a ‘one stop shop’ for council services.

HLF previously awarded a development grant of £48,700 to help the council progress the plans and the balance of funds, required to deliver the overall project, will be met by the council.

Members of the town council were asked to consider the report by the town clerk Carl Hearn and the terms of the bid to HLF.

Cllr Anne Johnson was in support of the project. She said: ‘It’s a beautiful building and I want to see the Tavistock Guildhall project succeed. I want to see it up and running, it’s been closed for far too long.

‘I have long believed that Tavistock needs to be a destination venue. We need to get people in here that can spend money and keep our businesses going to make sure that we are a town that people want to come to, so I support this.’

Deputy mayor Paul Ward said: ‘It is unacceptable that a building of that quality should be unused and it is at risk of decaying further so there’s no question that something needs to be done with it. It has to be brought back into public use — it has to be made available to the townsfolk and visitors.’

Cllr Mandy Ewings said: ‘We went ahead with the acquisition but we always went ahead knowing that what we wanted was for this building to be the gateway to the eastern side of the World Heritage Site.

‘Yes there is a risk but also we have to bear in mind the ratepayers of this town — do they want this facility to be brought back to life and open up the town to more visitors and more people to want to come to live here? I will be supporting this project.’

• Tavistock Guildhall and Police Station were England’s first purpose built buildings for administering justice. The guildhall has been unused since 2000 and the police station subsequently relocated to new premises at Abbey Rise five years ago. The town council acquired the buildings, which are Grade II* listed and has been working with HLF, THT and other partners to bring the buildings back into use.

For more details about the proposal visit www.tavistock.gov.uk