I AM a retired chartered civil engineer, and the first 10 years or so of my working life after university was spent as a local authority highway engineer, when I was involved, from time to time, in highway diversions and road closures.

Nobody is going to be able to persuade me that the Tesco works could not be carried out without closing the A377.

It beggars belief that at the same time as the A377 is to be closed, Wellparks Hill – which at the time the link road (Wellparks Hill) was being planned the best part of 20 years ago, one of the advantages promoted was that it would provide an alternative route whenever the A377/Exeter Road was closed to traffic – is itself being closed!

One is entitled to ask who planned these works, and what consideration was given to the inconvenience this would cause Crediton's inhabitants, commuters and the travelling public.

Keith Mortimer

Chartered Civil Engineer

Crediton