HAVING been given a fair bit of information about the second outline planning application to build homes off Higher Road, Crediton Town Council’s Town Strategy Committee wants to know more about how traffic would be dealt with.

There was also discussion as to how to encourage the man living on the War Memorial on Union Road to find somewhere else to live. The memorial is for the fallen of Crediton Hamlets area as well as Crediton.

Mr Neal Jillings of Place Land LLP of Exeter spent some time at the start of the meeting talking about their new outline application for up to 65 homes, creating a public open space and other work including access on land at Higher Road in Sandford parish.

He reminded members that Place Land’s previous application had been for 75 homes. Then there had been a consultation at Sandford Cricket Club and a session with Sandford Parish Council as well as addressing Crediton Town Council last October.

As well as fewer houses this time Mr Jillings said bats and dormice had been discovered in the hedge. They wanted to keep disruption of the Higher Road hedge to a minimum, making that road a “quiet lane” with Alexandra Road being the more major access road.

Saying Higher Road had become almost a bypass for the High Street, Cllr John Downes asked whether Devon County Council Highways had approved the road changes proposed.

Mr Jillings said one of the first things they did was to talk with the county council. There had been a road safety audit and, so far as they were aware, there were no problems with changing the priority of the road. He could get the full answer for the town council.

Cllr John Ross was another concerned with making Alexandra Road “the main road” given the amount of farm traffic that used Higher Road.

Discussing the planning application, the committee chairman, Cllr Liz Brookes-Hocking was concerned about the service road being close to ancient woodland.

Cllr John Ross did not think it was acceptable to divert traffic along Alexandra Road. “We catch someone speeding there every two minutes when we carry out a check,” he said, “and a lot more traffic would be directed that way.”

Cllr John Downes added: “It is not an ideal situation, there are a lot of incidents of vehicles hitting wing mirrors.”

It was also said that if Higher Road was to become an access road, it could be “one big car park”.

When Cllr Kay Piercy wondered if widening Higher Road could, in time, lead to a full bypass several members laughed that this would not be in their life-time.

When someone remarked that Devon County Council seemed to like the road plan it was said that Devon County Council did not live there.

The committee agreed not to make any comment on the application until it had talked with the traffic and road officer but that it had a number of concerns.

TOWN IS SPLIT

The committee was told that Crediton was split over views about the man who has made the War Memorial his home for the past year.

It was pointed out that he had chosen his way of life, had turned down offers of accommodation, and did not take temporary accommodation during the periods of snow.

Some people had made hot water bottles for him while others found it almost impossible to use the bench at the back of the War Memorial or even visit the memorial.

He was obstructing other people’s appreciation of the War Memorial. The town clerk, Mrs Clare Dalley, said the town was a “victim of the fact that our community is made of very nice people who have given him blankets and food.”

Cllr Harris added that the majority of people agreed they would like him to move from the War Memorial.

She said: “He is in a public space at a memorial people want to visit and do not want to feel unable to linger because someone has taken up residency.”

It was agreed to visit him to explain how he was stopping other people from feeling able to visit the area and ask him to move on.

Councillors felt it was not unreasonable to want other people to feel free to visit the council-owned War Memorial.