I am a Town Councillor but live on the new developments so you can say that the issue of pavements along Crediton Road is on my patch. In practice I have been worrying about and dealing with the situation since the Spring of 2023. I have made a particular point of understanding the practicalities, legal obligation and situation and progress towards the likely outcomes. I wish to tell you about some facts and to give you my opinion about what we can do about about the situation which in practice is very little for the foreseeable future.

Facts:

Devon County Council are the Highways Authority who have a responsibility to provide safe movement for pedestrians alongside roads, espially A and B roads in this County.

As the Highways Authority they only have an obligation to carry out the above duty in built-up areas. The new developments are not in a built-up area, they are currently situated in the Parish of Okehampton Hamlets which is totally rural.

Lois Samuel is the County Councillor with responsibility for the Division that contains the Hamlets.

Yes, there has been a Boundary Review and as a result, the new Developments which include Okement Park and Hampton Hill which are most affected by the lack of pavements, will become part of the Town Council area and thus become a built-up area but this will not come into force until 2027.

Yes, West Devon Borough Council, as Planning Authority, did insist to Barratt that they come up with a scheme to provide pedestrian access through the estates to the Town. This Barratt have done and have recently published this plan. As far as Barratt are concerned, currently, they have satisfied any legal obligation that they had as part of their activities to provide suitable pathways within their development.

Yes, WDBC are not satisfied with the submitted plans and Councillors Leech and Dexter, who represent the North Ward which includes Hamlets have indicated that neither they or their Planners are satisfied with the proposal.

None the less, Barratt are a large developer with significant legal representation and clout, the chances that WDBC enforcement or planners can persuade Barratt to alter their plans is minute.

The proposal requires Highways to have responsibility for controlling two pedestrian crossings on the Crediton Road - one at the roundabout and one half way up the hill towards Crediton where the installed steps (and future ramp) meet the road to permit pedestrians to cross to the pathways that circulate around the ponds on the Okement Park.

In practice the crossing on the corner, which is in turn surrounded by "Devon Banks" and effectively hidden from the view of drivers of cars and lorries, is an accident waiting to happen.

No political party who fought the recent election offered to raise taxes to give Counties more money. Thus DCC do not have the money to spend on road and pavement improvements, irrespective of any level of pressure placed upon them. In practice, as you are all too well aware, they do not have enough money to spend on repairing potholes.

Therefore:

Do I believe that any campaign or level of pressure that we might bring to force the DCC to go outside of its remit? No I do not. To make matters worse, the Barratt proposal will actually make safety for pedestrians and drivers worse.

What could we do about it?

I consider there are only two possibilities. Firstly we could all have a whip round and either pay for the improvements ourselves or if that does not produce sufficient funds, then buy some Lottery tickets with the balance and hope we win.

Only Barratt have the putative funds available to pay for the improvements. The only way that Barratt could be forced to pay up that money, is if we undertook a campaign to stop people from buying Barratt houses on Okement Park and Hampton Hill until they found the money. That is a pretty amazing suggestion but that would be my best advice.

Finally:

To make matters ten times worse, I believe that Highways MUST consider a major road improvement to turn the Crediton Road from the Chichacott turning to the roundabout into a proper urban through road - with sufficient width, pavements and lighting. That is going to cost millions of pounds but why the WDBC Planners ever gave permission to Barratt to create the developments, the way they did, without taking thius into account mystifies me, especially as they included the concept of using Nexus Way as a link road for lorries.

I have proposed to my Town Council that prior to the transfer of the developments to the Town in 2027, that we set up a liaison group for the new developments, in any event. If accepted you can be sure that a proper solution to this stupid situation will be top of the agenda!