COUNCILLORS will go on a "virtual site visit" before making a decision on plans to extend the 30mph speed limit for a Mid Devon village.

In March the Mid Devon Highways and Traffic Orders Committee recommended that the 30mph zone in Bow be extended to the west of the Bow Garden and Aquatic Centre at Burston.

As it is a departure from highways policy, the decision lies with the Devon County Council’s cabinet, and its recent meeting saw it defer making a decision until it could "virtually" have a look at the site and the issues around it.

County Cllr Nick Way, who represents the Crediton ward in which Bow lies, had initially called for the speed limit extension.

He said: “Over recent years, Bow’s village centre has seen many changes and retail, commercial and leisure facilities now serving the village have relocated or further developed their businesses 300 to 400m to the west, beyond the village boundary at Burston, almost a mile away from many of the local housing developments.

“Extra traffic has been generated because of these changes. The shop, garden centre and new sports field facility owners have all installed large car parks for their customers creating even more traffic and road safety is increasingly becoming a great concern locally and a significant number of pedestrians increasingly use the footpaths between the village, retail outlets and sports facilities etc at Burston.”

Cllr Stuart Hughes, cabinet member for highways, said that he had received a lot of correspondence on the issue and that a virtual site visit so that the cabinet can see for themselves the traffic issues and the reasons why the departure from county policy were considered necessary.

The cabinet unanimously supported the recommendation for the virtual site visit.

Daniel Clark

LDRS