PLANS to build a wall to highlight the town's history and stop vandalism came under the spotlight at Okehampton Town Council's meeting last week.

The wall, which would be built around the taxi rank in Market Street, was suggested by Somerfield. The company has offered to replace the existing wooden fence, which has been the subject of vandalism during the last 12 months.

Somerfield store manager Sharon Brodie said they hoped to get permission soon to build the wall.

She said: 'We are in the process of trying to find out exactly who owns the plot of land, once we get full permission from all concerned, we can go ahead and get the wall built.

'We had been paying for the repairs on the wooden fence and it got to the point where we even repaired it twice in one week.'

Sharon Brodie said she supported the idea to decorate the wall.

She said: 'We are happy to have the wall put up and it would look a lot nicer.

'I wouldn't see any issue with the wall being decorated to show the town's history — we are open to all suggestions and I think it would be a lovely feature.'

Members of the town council said they would like to see the wall decorated with artwork which would reflect the history of the area.

Mayor of Okehampton Cllr David Weekes said: 'We don't want a plain wall.

'We want something to show people what used to be there.

'I would personally like to see something that shows the old horse cattle market, the public weigh bridge, the fire station, the mill and the old boot factory. It would be good to let people know what was there before and having the wall decorated would be a great way of doing this.'