I READ the latest development in the fiasco of the Crediton Link Road. We now have Cllr Nick Way, in the yellow corner and Cllr Stuart Hughes in the blue corner, fighting it out over who is to blame.
The by-pass for Crediton has been fought over since 1959. In 1983, I received a letter from the South Western Region Department of Transport, on behalf of Mrs Linda Chalker, the then Minister for Transport.
The "Exeter Road By-pass scheme: was in Devon's 1984/5 list of schemes, starting work in 1985/6. The funding was allocated for this scheme, which never happened and the funding disappeared, obviously to be used elsewhere. This was under a Liberal Democrat administration.
At that time I was invited to Downes House to discuss the by-pass with Mrs Rosemary Parker, mother of Henry Parker, the present occupant.
Mrs Parker agreed to donate the land for the original by-pass route, of which the Valley Route would now form the first part.
She made it a condition that the house would be screened by trees. I have no recollection of English Heritage being involved at that time and the route was, and still is, shown as "protected" on the Development Plan. It has, of course, never happened.
The by-pass was also brought forward again in 1993 and 2003 and came to nothing on both occasions.
Why is it that Crediton is always at the back of the queue and money allocated to us so long ago disappeared somewhere else?
Traffic, with its filthy fumes, has made our lives a misery for many years and our health is suffering.
The arrival of Tesco is the last straw, with at least a 20 per cent increase in the traffic roaring past my door.
Please, please, can someone, of any party colour, sort out a problem which has been ongoing for more than 50 years - not with a cheap, quick-fix solution, which pleases no-one, but one which gives hope for eventual relief for the whole of the town - that is, the Valley Route.
If this involves a public enquiry, then so be it. Perhaps matters such as long-term, illegal pollution and health and safety need to be sorted at more than a local level.
And, after all these years, perhaps we might get back the money, or its equivalent today, that was meant for Crediton and which we never got.
Joan Farley (Mrs)
9 Exeter Road
Crediton