A BUSY main road leading out of Tavistock is to be closed for around three months — potentially longer — as groundworks continue to a new estate being built on the edge of town.

Butcher Park Hill, the road out to Brentor, will be closed from Monday, February 11, with no concrete re-opening date — though the anticipated end of the closure is Friday, May 17. The road closure granted by Devon County Council is taking place so that developer David Wilson Homes (part of Barratt Developments PLC) can carry out sewerage, gas line and works to the BT line to be carried out at the new Embden Grange estate.

Even if David Wilson Homes finishes the work by its anticipated finish date, the road will have been closed for 14 weeks.

Last November, Tavistock Town Council decided to formally object to such a long closure to an important town road, citing that it would cause major inconvenience and the suggested diversionary route — which takes drivers onto Glanville Road, Old Launceston Road, onto the B3362 and towards Chillaton and Lifton — would prove difficult to navigate due to its narrow, winding nature.