THE death warrant for Devizes Snooker Club was signed by councillors last week when they granted owner Brian Foster planning permission to demolish the building and replace it with five town houses.

Though Mr Foster has said he has no immediate plans to carry out the scheme, the approval by Kennet District Council means that the club in Station Road is facing the end of the line.

Council planning officers had recommended that councillors at Thursday's regulatory committee refuse permission for the scheme on the grounds that it would be a loss of a leisure amenity for the town.

But town and district councillor Nigel Carter, who lives close by, asked committee members to consider granting permission to the plan. He said: "This is a 50-year-old bus garage converted to a snooker hall when the interest in the game was at its peak. Enthusiasm for snooker has waned and it is certainly not unique in the town in providing snooker tables to play on.

"The phrase viability and vitality of the town centre is constantly appearing in reports, but there is no measurability of this and I would like to pour scorn and derision on that terminology. There has been no application from the groups that use the snooker hall to retain it."

Coun Ray Parsons, who is also a town councillor, said the snooker club had become run down because of lack of interest in it and Station Road was the scene of rowdy behaviour on Friday and Saturday nights. He said: "Closing the club would improve matters for local residents."

But Coun Rosemary Cummins said that the town council objected to the plan because of the loss of an amenity and said councillors shouldn't get bogged down in merely considering it as a snooker club. She said: "There could be a wide range of healthy activities taking place in that building."

Councillors agreed to approve the principle of demolishing the building and erecting five town houses, but delegated the negotiations for a sum of money in lieu of providing public open space on the site, as part of a legal agreement.