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Muse drummer Dom Howard has backed the Save the Cave battle in Teignmouth and called on Teignbridge Council to give the music project more time to find a new space.

The home-grown mega star posted a link to a petition to save the hugely popular rehearsal space at Eastcliff after they were given just two weeks to leave.

And today Teignbridge Council has agreed that The Cave can stay until September if they sign a new agreement. Eventually it is hoped to move project which is used by hundreds of people young and old into a purpose-built facility at the bottom of Bitton Park.

The Muse drummer told his thousands of Instagram followers: "This music rehearsal space and community project needs to be saved and at least given more time to relocate before they get evicted by the local council.

"Two weeks is not really fair! Two months maybe. A place to play music freely is very hard to come by. I know how much it would suck to lose it if we were using it as a young band. #savethecave."

The Save the Cave petition now has almost 2,000 signatures.

Fans thanked Dom for his support. One said: "Dom, thank you so much for posting about this, you have no idea the excitement and hope that you have just created in all of us directly involved. Having your backing gives us a real fighting chance."

The Council had originally wanted the Eastcliff Centre back this week (January 29th) so it could begin regeneration plans for Teignmouth town centre in the town centre.

But now after it has agreed to put off the bulldozers at Eastcliff until the end of the summer.

After a meeting last week with Teignmouth Town Council, Teignbridge Community and Voluntary Services and The Music Project, Teignbridge District Council promised to look again at the timetabling of the work to see if it could help the Music Project while they looked for new premises.

The meeting was chaired by Roger Kirk, founding trustee of the Helen Foundation. The town council says it intends to develop a community facility on land at the bottom of Bitton Park in partnership with Teignbridge Council, and potential users include The Cave.

The Teignbridge Council for Volunteer Services has offered support in sourcing grants for the Cave Music Project.

An open day will be held on Saturday, February 1, at The Cave.

There will also be a live music showcase event at the Bronx Bar in Teignmouth on Friday January 31 from 8pm.

Councillor Alan Connett, Executive Councillor for Corporate Resources at Teignbridge District Council, explained: “We looked at the contracts for the regeneration scheme and by changing the order in which work will be done we are able to let the Music Project use the Eastcliff Centre until the end of September 2020. After that, we will need the building back and the Music Project will have to find a temporary home.

"Teignmouth Town Council told last week’s meeting that it was working on a scheme to provide new facilities for several youth organisations, including the Music Project, at the foot of Bitton Park. I hope town councillors will back this scheme so progress can be made as quickly as possible.

"I know that like me, many people will be pleased that Teignbridge District Council has been able to offer this eight month extension”.

(Image: Derek Meredith)

The current 'tenancy at will' legal agreement which has allowed the use of the Eastcliff Centre will end on Wednesday (29th) as planned. Teignbridge Council will then re-possess the building but it hopes that a new agreement can be signed on Friday to enable the Music Project to use the Eastcliff Centre until 30 September.

Councillor Connett added that The Music Project had known for 12 months that it would need to leave the Eastcliff Centre and that over the past nine years or so it had benefited from rent free use of the building.

The new agreement, if accepted, would also be rent free and Councillor Connett said he hoped this would help the Project to plan its future finances. Before moving back into the building and as part of the new agreement, the Community Interest Company will need to provide evidence that it has undertaken the basic safety assessments requested of it in the past.

Councillor Connett said: "The Teignmouth Town Council project will provide a modern building for the Music Project, and other organisations. The town council when we met them last week confirmed they are happy to put a scheme to the Town Councillors for approval and were waiting for confirmation from the Music Project that they wanted to be part of that exciting development."