CREDITON should seize the opportunity and get it's link road before it starts to worry about infrastructure that may be required - that was the message for the town from two members of Devon County Council's highway's department.

Dave Black, head of planning and transportation and Paul Ewings, engineering and design group, were invited to give a consultation briefing to an invited audience at the Council Chamber, Market Street, Crediton.

Those at the briefing included Town Councillors, District Councillors, Mid Devon District Council officers, Devon County Council officers and representatives from the local community, including members of Crediton Traffic Action Group.

The meeting was arranged and hosted by the County Councillor for Crediton, Nick Way.

Crediton Traffic Survey and Modelling survey results were announced, which provided some interesting data concerning traffic flows in and around the town.

The meeting was first briefed about the history of the road situation in Crediton, including details of how the plan for a bypass for the town was dropped by Devon County Council cabinet.

Mr Black explained that three sites for data collection were held on roads into the town in the summer, where motorists were faced with many questions, including where they had come from and their destination. Types of vehicles were recorded, as was the purpose of the trip.

Traffic counts and data collected was used to produce daily movement figures about two-way vehicle flows.

Automatic Number Plate surveys and junction counts were carried out at various locations in the town in May and these figures were also analysed to produce results presented to the meeting.

Mr Black said that the results showed Crediton's traffic flow was "quite stable" and "had been for a number of years" and added that the "level of growth of traffic in the area is flat".

He said the traffic flow into the Lords Meadow Industrial Estate was "quite heavy" and also in the rest of the town.

All the data was used to forecast the traffic flow from 2014 to 2026, bearing in mind future land used derived from the recently-approved Mid Devon Local Development Framework and trips through Crediton increased by the projected national Department for Transport forecasting tool.

Calculations including development at Peddlarspool, Cromwells Meadow and Wellparks were used.

Mr Black predicted that almost 7,000 vehicles per day would use the new Hillside Link Road, which, he said, was given a cost estimate of £7.75 million. Currently, 700 vehicles access the industrial estate using Mill Street.

He said that the new road had a "high value for money" rating because it would alleviate some of the traffic, thereby reducing air pollution etc, for Mill Street residents.

However, he admitted that there would be very little benefit to Crediton High Street after the Link Road was built, particularly in terms of traffic reduction or air pollution.

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Bob Edwards, chairman, Crediton Traffic Action Group, told the representatives that they had chosen the wrong route for the Link Road and should have used an adopted Valley route.

He said he was "staggered" to hear that the surveys showed no increase in traffic for many years and were "flat" as he had described.

He said he was particularly surprised with this because of all the new development to the west of Crediton at Copplestone, etc.

He expressed concern about the exit from the estate after the road was built, particularly with regard to the traffic in Marsh Lane.

Mr Black agreed to check on whether the development at Bow, Copplestone and Yeoford and elsewhere to the west had been taken into account in the traffic forecasting.

He said that DCC was not looking at progressing any other roads when questioned about improvements to Higher Road.

Town Councillor Tom Connell said that he disagreed with the Hillside route because it did nothing for the High Street but could see it would be an advantage to Exeter Road and Mill Street residents.

Simon Newcombe, Mid Devon District Council, asked questions about air quality improvements and why figures concerning HGV's had not been included in some of the calculations.

Mr Black said that the figures would be made available.

Cllr David Nation said that he was aware of the time limits on the Link Road plan due to the Tesco funding contribution towards the road.

Cllr Liz Brookes-Hocking asked for more break-downs of traffic figures and this was agreed.

The Mayor of Crediton, Cllr Frank Letch said that in every town in France, no HGV's were allowed through, only delivery vehicles.

He hoped that something would be done to divert HGV's from the High Street.

This was rejected by DCC chief assistant, Area Engineer, East, Meg Booth, who said it was almost certainly not possible because it would not be enforceable.

David Nation said that he believed appropriate signage might solve some of the problem.

Ralph Page said he disagreed with the DCC findings on his proposal, and that he felt that there would be chaos in Marsh Lane following the implementation of the Hillside route.

He pointed out that the road width in Marsh Lane was as narrow as Exeter road, quoting precise measurements, 5.5 metres.

He said lorries would not be able to pass one another, just as in Exeter Road. He felt that there would be a transfer of the problems in Exeter Road to the estate.

Graham Pearcey, CTAG, said he did not believe the Link Road scheme was complete unless it continued to Creedy Corner.

He questioned whether Blagdon and Jockey Hill would be able to sustain the increase in traffic which would result after the Link Road was completed.

A solution suggested by Tom Connell, to solve the bottleneck problem at Jockey Hill, would be, he said, to knock down the two cottages at the bottom of Jockey Hill to enable the road to be widened.

He added that improvements to Upper Road would then solve some other problems.

Mr Black said that he saw the hillside route forming a "better gateway to Crediton".

He urged Crediton to back the Link Road, explaining that the scheme was a "big ask for the county financially".

Mr Ewings said Crediton was very lucky to have the funding for this road, since of the five major projects in hand with DCC, three had been cancelled, including the Kingskerswell bypass.

He suggested delay would be "unhelpful" and said he believed it would be "more difficult to deliver" if there was a delay.

He added that DCC had no immediate plans to widen Marsh Lane, and that in any case it would take some time for the level of traffic to reach the full potential.

Also, there were no plans at all to extend the route to Forches Cross or Barnstaple Cross.

One reason given for the "flat " level of traffic was that the North Devon Link road, and the Exeter to Launceston road, together with another accessing Winkleigh, had obviated the need for any further need for a road west of Crediton.

When told that these facts didn't help the current position in the High Street, they replied that, had they not built these new roads, the High Street would be much worse than it is now, and that furthermore, Crediton High Street is no different to numerous towns throughout Devon, and indeed, the whole country.

Situations worse than Crediton were not being scheduled to be eased, they said.

Some comments were made by various people saying that they wished that the Crediton Bypass was still an option.

Bob Edwards said that CTAG wanted the Valley route and he described it as "far superior" to the Hillside route.

Jonathan Guscott, Mid Devon District Council, clarified the situation by reminding those present that the Crediton Bypass scheme had been dropped.

He explained: "I understand you want a bypass but that is dead.

"It was being discussed when I came to the county but what offered is a Link Road to the estate to ease problems for residents of Exeter Road.

"It is not a substitute for a bypass and I know it does not solve Crediton's road problems but if you can find £120 million then that might."

It was acknowledged that the £15-20 million Crediton Bypass proposal had been dropped.

Issues surrounding the Tesco, flood plain, Environment Agency, English Heritage and Downes House were discussed.

Concerning the progression of the Link Road, Christine Nicholl, Crediton Chamber of Commerce, said that there needed to be joined up thinking regarding the plight of the High Street, and suggested the dialogue be continued with all those present working towards a long term solution.

Mr Black said that the findings of the consultation would be presented to Devon County Council's cabinet at its meeting in January.

He then predicted that a planned application would be submitted in 2011, when comments on the application made.

He predicted, if all went well with the process, that construction could begin in 2013 and the road would be opened in 2014.