Camelford Town Council is hoping to buy the former St John Ambulance Hall to retain the facility as a community asset.

Deputy mayor Cllr Rob Rotchell at last week's council meeting spoke strongly in favour of generating a plan to buy the building in order to retain it for the town.

He said that when he joined the council, there were some issues worthy of standing up for.

"I think it's that serious. I'm not going to tell people the history of the place. The land was given by Camelford for the use of Camelford."

He recalled that £75,000 was raised locally to buy the ambulance, which was relocated to Bodmin following the closure of the Camelford branch.

Last year, former mayor and town councillor Bonnie Grills asked the St John charity to let the town council know if it decided to put the property on the market, but Cllr Rotchell said they had not been informed.

He wanted to seek a way forward to retain the building, which had a guide price of £45,000 — however, bidding was by sealed bids.

"I thought there should have been a one in front of that. £45,000 is ridiculously low for the building and the land."

For the full report, and a round-up of the area news and sport, see this week's edition of the Post.