NEARLY 300 protestors from Ashburton voiced their opposition to the likely closure of the town’s hospital with a march through the street over the weekend.

Organisers of the placard-waving demo say they will repeat the exercise this Thursday in Newton Abbot when NHS managers meet to vote on a recommendation that the facility should close - alongside ones in Bovey Tracey, Dartmouth and Paignton.

Ashburton’s mayor, John Nutley, said after Saturday’s parade through the town: ‘The passion in the support that everyone showed was tremendous.’

He added: ‘I hope that those making the decision this Thursday will have seen the coverage from the media - and that we are right and justified in fighting to keep our hospital open.’

The town’s first citizen called on marchers to repeat their protest outside Newton Abbot’s racecourse at 10am on Thursday.

He hoped the area’s Clinical Commissioning Group governing body will have the ‘backbone’ to reject the hospital closure recommendations put before them.

The recommendations were revealed by the CCG at a stakeholders’ briefing in Kingsteignton on Friday afternoon.

Cllr Nutley and his deputy mayor Sarah Parker-Khan said the closure recommendation held out a ‘glimmer of hope’ with a pledge by health chiefs to see if the hospital could be used as a health clinic.

He thanked all those who turned up on Saturday to register their opposition to the closure plans.