West Devon Borough Council completed an Urban Capacity Study in November 2001. It involved sending a questionnaire to all commercial units in Tavistock and Bere Alston to ascertain the level of occupancy, the amount of accommodation available and the owner’s views about the scope for creating additional accommodation in flats above the ground floor. The survey results are summarised here:

Place	Flats surveyed	Number of existing bedrooms	Number of bedrooms occupied	Number of bedrooms vacant	Number of additional bedrooms possible?
Tavistock	162	144	97	47	14
Bere Alston	18	40	23	18	0

An on-the-ground survey confirms that there are several empty rooms above the shops in Tavistock. In April 2003, the Tavistock Times reported that West Devon Homes made an offer to the Town Council as landlord for a 20-year lease on two unused flats above 9 and 13 Duke Street. There is clearly scope for similar approaches elsewhere although conversion work is likely to be expensive due to the difficulties of meeting fire regulations in listed buildings.

The Woolworths and the Co-op stores in Tavistock are relatively large modern buildings that have been built on the ground floor only. Both could accept at least one more floor, with the aim of creating additional living space and enhancing the townscape at the same time.