THE Wolborough Street redevelopment scheme in Newton Abbot was not dead – but what emerges from ASM Properties and Asda could make it so.
That is the view of Teignbridge District Council's Executive Howard Davis, who told Newton Abbot Town Council on Wednesday: 'we shall have to see'.
He told the committee, which had asked him to attend, that his parting words to Asda and ASM after a meeting at Forde House, were: 'This town, I know, doesn't want this development at any price.'
There could be some pluses out of the rethink to the multi-million pound scheme, he insisted, as some people were regretting the original planning decision.
But he told the meeting that he was 'very disappointed' by the leak of the confidential letter which publicised the scheme's financial problems.
'Some things need to be dealt with in confidence,' he said.
Cllr Mike Ryan said ASM had agreed to do a job and that job should be done. 'We are going to end up with a second rate development like Market Walk,' he warned. 'I'd chuck them out.'
Cllr David Howe said the town did not want a second-rate development but town councillors were not in a majority on the planning committee.