A CAMPAIGN for a north/south bypass in Callington is to be re-launched but town councillors have been warned that it may never happen in their lifetime.

Members of Callington Town Council were last week discussing the frequent congestion around the area of the community college in Launceston Road, past the Coachmakers public house and up to the traffic lights by the police station.

They said it took ten minutes for the fire engine to get to an incident in the centre of the town and if it had been a property fire it could have cost lives.

Cllr Chris Thomas said one day the traffic was gridlocked for 20 minutes near the Coachmakers, with HGVs and other large vehicles as well as cars and buses.

'It is crazy — we need that bypass. Something needs to be done about the A388 going through Callington.'

Cllr Jeremy Gist said an upgrade to Florence Road to take HGV vehicles, to prevent them going through the town centre, would cost just over £10-million.

'We have £160,000 not £10-million to improve the traffic situation and enhance Callington. We have to be realistic.'

The town is still trying to decide how to spend the money it received from the Tesco development after a one-way system was rejected by the public.

'It is an ongoing issue but with the current restriction on Cornwall Council and Government spending we are not going to get between the £10-million and £20-million it would probably take for a north/south bypass,' said Cllr Gist.

Cllr Andrew Long said everyone was in favour of a bypass but the reality was that the first priority in Cornwall was upgrading the A30 across Bodmin Moor.

'After that it's the A30 between Carnon Cross and Camborne, which is a single track road and has ten miles of queuing traffic all day and every day in the summer, and then the A38 death-trap at Menheniot.'

Mr Long said he would push to get a Callington bypass back on the agenda but warned that it may take a long time. It took 50 years to get the Dobwalls bypass and that had a major trunk road going through a village.

Cllr Roger Denley said he served for 30 years in the fire service in Callington and getting to incidents in the town at school arrival and department times had always been a problem.

Cllr Gist said he felt that installing a pedestrian crossing at the traffic lights, which had previously been popular with the public, to improve safety for pedestrians, would actually make the congestion worse.

'I would love to see a pedestrian crossing by the police station but it is a very busy road and twice a day traffic is queued up to the college. A 30-second delay every two or three minutes with a crossing would easily see the traffic queued further and then the fire engine could not even get out at all.'

But Cllr Denise Winfindale said she knew of very few other situations on a main road like this which did not have a crossing: 'We have to have some control there. Many people only have one car now and there are a lot more pedestrians.

'We have the money for a safe crossing, we have it from Tesco, so let's use it.'