Okehampton mayor Bob Tolley and town clerk Emma James are set to attend a Devon County Council meeting in the new year to discuss a town regeneration project.

The county council has invited Cllr Tolley and Mrs James to attend the meeting, along with representatives from other key Okehampton community groups, to participate in a Regeneration Board for Okehampton as part of the Urban Renewal Project which was set up to help local authorities and residents improve their town.

Cllr Tolley said: ‘I and the clerk are looking forward to representing the Town Council in working with the local community, businesses, institutions and fellow councils on the Urban Regeneration project.

‘I think we have made a start, with the railway and just need to work together to produce a dynamic and achievable regeneration vision, going forward. I know there is the will, certainly on the Councils part and I can only see positive outcomes.

‘If it is as good for Okehampton, as I know it can be, we may have to name it twice.’

Town stakeholders have also been invited to attend, including one of the supermarkets, small business owners, Okehampton College, the Museum of Dartmoor Life, Everything Okehampton and Okehampton United Charities.

Four meetings throughout January and February have been scheduled for all Okehampton stakeholders, Cllr Tolley and Mrs James to attend, the first of which will be held in the Council Chamber in Okehampton’s town hall, followed by three virtual meetings.

Mrs James said: ‘We have been invited by Devon County Council and West Devon Borough Council to attend and they have got some money and they are looking at putting together another strategy for the town. It’s got to be economic with a view of looking at the high streets and they do think we are bucking the trend here with the amount of small independent shops we have here, the lack of closed shops we’ve got and empty properties.’

The county council’s invitation follows Okehampton Town Council’s placemaking work which has been ongoing since the reopening of the railway in November last year.

As part of the work, the town council has approved new signage including new park information boards and updated finger posts which will also show walking distance times in the style of those found in Exeter.

The town council has also raised the possibility of starting a business improvement district (BID) in the town, though this has proved contentious following the failure of a previous attempt to set one up several years ago.