Date set for Honiton town poll

No polling cards will be issued for vote over community centre plans.

Community centre plans.

A second town poll over controversial plans for a £2million community centre complex will take place in Honiton on Thursday, May 10.

Electors will be asked to give a yes or no answer to the question: Do you, the council tax payers of Honiton, wish the town council to proceed any further with the community centre project?

Mark Williams, East Devon’s returning officer, confirmed today (Thursday) the poll will go ahead. The decision follows a public meeting, called by six electors, which took place on March 29.

Polling cards will not be issued for the vote and electors are asked to simply turn up at their normal polling station - either the Mackarness Hall, The King’s Centre or The Heathfield Inn - between 4pm and 9pm.

In case of any doubt, electors can seek advice about polling stations from the town council office in New Street.

Honiton Town Council, which is proposing to develop the centre in Dowell Street, on land currently used by East Devon District Council as a car park, has issued a statement, saying: “The outcome of the poll is no more and no less than an expression of the views of the electorate of the parish who have voted in the poll and is not binding.

“Rules for the conduct of the poll are laid down by legislation and are similar to those common to all elections, with some variations or exceptions.

“There are no provisions for electors’ poll cards or for postal or proxy voting.”

The vast majority of those who voted in the first poll did not wish the council to proceed with the project.