THE campaign by Crediton residents to persuade Mid Devon District Council Cabinet to reverse its decision to sell the historic Council building in Market Street to a commercial buyer has taken another step forward.

At a meeting of the Council’s Scrutiny committee, Cllr Frank Letch, who is also Mayor of Crediton, handed to the Council’s Chief Executive another 460 signatures on a petition demanding that the Council instead sell the building to Crediton Town Council on the same terms as it offered Tiverton Town Council when disposing of its town hall.

More than 800 signatures were presented to Mid Devon District Council at its meeting on August 29, bringing the total number of signatures so far to more than 1,300.

Mid Devon Alderman David Nation attended the same Scrutiny committee and asked the committee to consider what more it might do to encourage the Cabinet to reverse its decision in the light of the great strength of feeling in the Crediton area the size of the petition illustrates.

He said: “The decision to sell the building commercially will result in the loss of this historic home of Local Government in the Crediton area and deprive the community of a fully used and essential resource, contrary to the Council’s stated policy of supporting local communities.”

He added that people were still queuing to sign the petition so many more signatures could be expected.

The Chairman, Cllr Frank Rosamond, said that he wasn’t sure what the committee could do and in a supplementary question Alderman Nation suggested that the council might agenda the item for further discussion in the light of the size of the petition.