IN A surprise move, Devon County Council highways engineers have made a number of amendments to the plan for the Crediton link road.

The authority intends to submit a planning application for the controversial road scheme next month.

It was in January that the final designs for the £8 million road were approved by Devon's highways committee, but these have now altered.

A Devon County Council spokesman said: "The layout of the junction at Commonmarsh Lane has been modified, with a dedicated right-turn lane from the link road, to improve safety for large vehicles.

"The existing junction between Exhibition Road and Commercial Road will also be changed from a t-junction to a mini roundabout, but this will only involve re-marking the junction.

"We have been meeting with town and district councillors, the Chamber of Commerce and traders from the Industrial Estate, and will meet with Crediton Traffic Action Group on July 21 (yesterday) to update them on the progress of the scheme prior to the submission of the planning application next month."

Cllr Nick Way asked for the pre-submission of the planning application meetings to update stakeholders.

Cllr Way said he was "very positive" about the road plan, adding that he believed, from the two meetings held already with stakeholders, that it was being looked at "favourably".

He said that the changes to the road design should ease the flow of traffic in all directions with the roundabout and filter-lane.

However, he said he is still pressing for the widening of Marsh Lane but explained that DCC engineers were "reluctant" to include this with the link road plan because it could hold up approval of the scheme.

"I understand that the funding is in the Capital Programme for 2013-14 and they don't want to put it into the plan because sorting the individual frontage changes with business owners could hold it up.

"Commonmarsh Lane needs widening too.

"I think the business community like the top of the road now because the slip road is better for lorries turning.

"I think it is an important change to the original scheme and to some extent is a bit like the Ralph Page suggestion.

"I also think DCC officers are now very positive about the scheme generally. At the moment, other than the Kingskerswell scheme, the Crediton link road is the only major road scheme in the DCC programme that still remains."

The link road will join the A377 at the Wellparks roundabout.

The route follows a line close to the previously-named hillside route which despite being chosen by the county council, was unpopular with campaigners seeking the so-called valley route which, they believe, could one day have been extended to form a full by-pass.

The long-sought after Crediton by-pass scheme was dropped by Devon County Councillors in March 2010, despite being in a number of Devon road building programmes for many years following active campaigns for decades.

Devon County Council says surveys indicate that the link road route will remove 800 vehicle movements from the town centre each day.

Critics say that infrastructure should be completed first, namely at Blagdon and Jockey Hill roundabout where it is anticipated there will be "bottlenecks" and in Exhibition Road, Charlotte Street and Mill Street, where they believe traffic will also increase dramatically.

The Mayor of Crediton, Cllr Frank Letch, was more positive about the link road proposal and said: "It is encouraging to think it is still going ahead and I hope that this will be a first phase of an improvement to the traffic situation and air quality in the town.

"I am also looking to the future and a road to the north of the town, near Barnstaple Cross."

Once submitted the link road plan application will go to public consultation, probably in September, as well as to statutory consultees.

The public will be invited to comment on the plan.

Once submitted, the application is expected to be considered by the county council's development management committee by the end of the year for a final decision on planning permission, subject to any conditions imposed.

The County Council hopes that construction will begin in 2013 and the road will open in 2014.

Alan Quick