RETAIL giant Tesco's plans to build a store in Okehampton will be the topic for discussion at a special planning committee meeting of Okehampton Town Council later this month.

The council has organised the planning meeting on Tuesday, April 23 so that it can make its decision on whether to support or oppose the Tesco application before the deadline set for responses by West Devon Borough Council.

The meeting will work like a normal town council committee meeting, as opposed to an open public meeting.

As with all these meetings, it will be open to the public for people to come along and hear the thoughts and workings of the council.

Near the beginning of the meeting, members of the public will have a limited amount of time to share their thoughts with councillors on whether Okehampton needs a Tesco, and what they think of the proposals put forward by the supermarket.

Following the initial time for comments made by the public, it will then be left for councillors to discuss the issue with no further comments allowed by those in attendance.

Okehampton mayor Cllr Rev Mike Davies said: 'All members of the public are welcome and encouraged to attend any of the council's meetings.

'As the Tesco planning is substantial we needed to introduce a further planning committee meeting as the next scheduled planning committee meeting is not until April 29, which would provide too much of a delay in offering a full reply to the planning authority.'

Tesco officially submitted their plans for a store on the Thompsons Devon site on April 3. The planning documentation reveals that the shop car park would have 296 car parking spaces with up to two hours of free parking, but no petrol station, pharmacy, post office or in-store customer café.

If given the go-ahead, the store, with a sales area of 3,242 square metres, would create around 180 new full-time and part-time jobs.

Employees at Thompsons Devon would be given an opportunity to interview at Tesco, with the depot relocating to Moretonhampstead.

While Okehampton Town Council will discuss the issue and make a decision on whether or not they think the store should get the go-ahead, the planning decision will ultimately rest with West Devon Borough Council.

Okehampton Town Council is merely a consultee — its opinion is taken into account by West Devon Borough Council planners when the decision is made.

The town council is also welcoming written responses from local people before the meeting. These can be dropped into the town hall office before April 23.

The meeting takes place in the town hall's council chamber on Tuesday, April 23 at 7pm. All are welcome to attend.