ANGRY councillors in West Devon claim they are being treated with 'contempt' by the county council over the controversial Whitchurch rural gateway.

The row flared this week when borough councillors heard their calls for the gateway to be scrapped were dismissed by the county.

County environment executive Cllr David Morrish said it would be 'inappropriate' to meet with interested parties, as the borough council requested, because 'the scheme clearly lies within the responsibility of the partnership committee'.

A letter from county environment director Ed Chorlton stated that Cllr Morrish suggested the scheme was effective, in that the volume and speed of traffic and accidents had reduced.

'He understands some people do not like the scheme but it is addressing its objectives. It has passed a safety audit and can be safely negotiated by any normally skilled driver,' the letter stated.

Tavistock borough councillor David Stapleton was 'appalled' at what he described as a 'curtly dismissive' letter.

He said it treated the council and local people with 'utter disregard, contempt even' and he called for a well-thought out, strategic approach to traffic management around Tavistock.

He said: 'All we ever get is quick, cheap, piecemeal solutions justified by highly local police figures and safety audits.

'Safety is vital but pointless if the measures taken to improve it in one spot lead to added dangers elsewhere.'

Cllr Roger Mathew felt the letter, written by the environment director on behalf of a councillor in response to a majority borough council decision, was 'discourtesy of an extreme kind' and 'a classic example of misleading spin'.

'This ugly nightmare has completely failed to achieve either of its stated objectives. They have got to be made to take it out.'

West Devon Council hoped its call for the gateway to be scrapped would be backed by the partnership committee — a body made up of county, borough and parish councillors — which introduced the controversial scheme.

But despite impassioned speeches at Monday's partnership committee meeting no further action was taken on the gateway.

Local government rules state committee decisions cannot be revisited within six months — the partnership committee voted on the gateway at its meeting in December, meaning it cannot be looked at again until June.

Cllr Ted Sherrell said: 'There is real anger and resentment over this. The crucial point is democracy.

'Local representatives have opposed and continue to oppose this gateway, yet it seems officers' recommendations are carried out. Councillors' views — and we reflect the views of the people — are ignored.'

Cllr Pat Warne said the gateway was 'undermining the public's faith in local democracy' and it embarrassed her as a local councillor.

She said: 'Now is the time to say "It's not working — it doesn't come up with what it was built to do" .'

But Cllr Caroline Keane said abolishing the gateway would be 'a fatuous waste of tax payers' money'.

She favoured keeping it, but making it safer through better signage and prioritising access into it. She also recommended the introduction of speed cameras in the vicinity of Whitchurch School.

Cllr Sally Monk felt the gateway discouraged large lorries from using Whitchurch Road, which used to cause problems in Horrabridge, but she accepted it needed modification.

Cllr Dick Eberlie said if the committee could not act on the borough council's call to scrap the gateway, it could at least consider alternative solutions in the meantime.

He proposed officers bring a report to the next meeting regarding traffic management and priorities at the Pixon Lane and Anderton Lane junctions off the Whitchurch Road.

Cllr David Morrish told the Times: 'I recognise the borough has the right to come to an opinion but the partnership committee came to a decision and they are closer to the situation than I am.

'I have driven along that section of the road in both directions. I thought it was an innovative piece of work. I have looked at the statistics and it seems to me that the measures seem to be producing a desirable change.'