Market traders in Newton Abbot have welcomed the news that Teignbridge Council has issued a compulsory purchase order in respect of the Chicken Café. Troubles negotiating a price with the business's owner, Ron Hailstone, have delayed the £1.3 million refurbishment of the town's historic pannier market. The café is to close to make way for new toilets in the scheme, which had been due to start earlier this year and traders transfer to temporary accommodation in the adjacent livestock market. 'We're getting quite excited. At last we can see some light at the end of the tunnel,' said Ron Southcombe, chairman of the marker traders' association. 'We understand that no objections have been made and the CPO is running to time.' Spokesman for Teignbridge, Michelle Kenney, said the council now looked forward to starting the refurbishment work in the summer, although it regretted the fact that the Hailstones were being 'displaced from their premises'. 'It was the only way to achieve the refurbishment which is so important for the vast majority of market traders and for the town centre itself,' she said. Mr Hailstone declined to comment after taking legal advice.
