OPPONENTS of radical plans to close the ten Ashburton and Buckfastleigh Hospital inpatient beds were told by health chiefs at a public meeting: 'It's not a done deal.'

Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust's interim chief executive Mandy Seymour said at Tuesday night's meeting at Buckfastleigh Town Hall: 'This is very much about listening to views and what is important to people locally.'

Some 120 people stated emphatically that they rejected the trust's proposals to relocate the beds – and ten more from Bovey Tracey – to 'state-of-the-art' Newton Abbot Hospital.