IT is with increasing disbelief that I follow the twists and turns in the bypass/link road debate.

With the huge increase in traffic through Crediton, caused partly by the unfettered building of new estates to the North of the town, estates built within the town and now a huge supermarket soon to be on the edge of town, a proper bypass seems to me to be the only viable option as a long-term solution to the long-term problems of pollution, noise and general unpleasantness that such a volume of traffic brings.

It used to be a pleasure to walk up the high street, to shop and chat. No more: it is dirty, noisy, smelly and very bad for our health. Is it not true that there is a high incidence of illness associated with bad air?

When the air quality is monitored and is often above all legal limits, national and international, especially in Exeter Road, what are the readings on Crediton High Street? Surely they must often be similarly high?

Apparently we have an Air Quality Monitoring Group in Crediton. They have been in operation for about four years. Can we know what their results are? Can we know what they suggest is done about the continued and increasing poor air quality? Who are the people in this group?

I have been advised by the Crediton Traffic Action Group that their (the monitoring group) findings are not available to the public. The public, that's you and me, that pays for this information that affects us all so much.

Comparisons have been made between Tiverton, Cullompton and Crediton town centres on the same day and time, details available on Mid Devon District Council's website.

The results are not surprising, since Tiverton in particular, has a largely traffic-free centre these days and is a much nicer place to visit as a consequence.

Crediton had about four times the level of pollution at the time of the comparison.

With the very sudden and unexpected suggestion of a "third" route for the proposed link road, my disbelief grew. Where was this suggestion when the other two routes, the "Valley" and the "Hill", were proposed as viable options? Suddenly, someone, somewhere came up with something new. The "Western" route.

This route would pass behind and very close to the houses most affected by the pollution on Exeter Road, creating a "sandwich" of pollution, noise and dirt, with the houses in the middle.

Unbelievable. What kind of twisted thinking would even make such a suggestion? I find it hard to understand that the suggestion was ever taken seriously by anyone with an iota of humanity about them.

Costs, vested interests and goodness knows what else put before the best interests of the majority of the residents of Crediton.

And just because you live at the top of town and "it won't affect me" please stop and think. The traffic is increasing on a daily basis, along the length of the high street. More and more side roads are used by motorists with local knowledge, who try to avoid this bottleneck. Mill Street, Dean Street, St Saviours Way and Greenway are all used for this purpose.

What we decide now will impact on future generations for tens of decades. I urge every resident of Crediton to find out what is going on in their town.

Let's not make this another "Town Square" argument where even after 15 or so years of discussion people were still ignorant about what was happening in the town. The moaning about that still goes on in some quarters.

A town square is one thing, a huge road at enormous cost in the wrong place will be a disaster, unchangeable for years to come.

It will be too late to have your say when the building begins. Please have your say now when it matters and when there is a chance that we can influence the outcome.

Passionately,

Jill Greig

Address supplied