A PROPERTY developer has written to Teignbridge District Council (TDC) to express interest in buying and developing a historic Newton Abbot site ahead of a vote which could see it demolished.

In a letter seen by the Mid-Devon Advertiser, Moffat Baxter, a developer that specialises in retro fitting old buildings, has expressed an interest in buying the Bradley Mills site, with the desire to develop it in line with the proposal set out by Save Britain's Heritage (SBH).

The SBH proposal would see the ‘sustainable retention of historic buildings integral to the historic and growth of Newton Abbot’.

The site had been under contact with developer Lovell Homes, but the contact expired on July 5.

Councillors at TDC will decide tomorrow, Tuesday, July 30, whether to demolish the site.

With holding costs in excess of £200,000 per annum, routine break-ins and the expiry of the contact with Lovell Homes, TDC, using unallocated funds from the Future High Street Fund, are pushing for the site to be demolished.

It is suggested that by doing so will make it a more viable site for a future developer.

But Moffat Baxter have requested an exclusivity agreement to give it sufficient time to submit a formal offer to develop Bradley Mills, which would see existing buildings retained, something that several organisations, including Newton Abbot and District Cvivic Society, have been calling for.

The buildings are not protected, however, and with various deadlines on when certain funds, chiefly the Future High Street Fund, have to be spent looming over the entire project, it is likely that the council will be willing to wait for Moffat and Baxter’s formal proposal.

But that remains to be seen.