CHANGES to a road layout in Bere Alston which gives priority to a cul-de-sac above a main route to a tourist spot were this week slammed as 'crazy and highly dangerous'.

Traffic travelling the main route from Bere Alston to Weir Quay, including many farm vehicles and boatyard traffic, now have to give way to motorists coming from the small Pentillie Road estate known as 'The Green.'

Residents are angry about the scheme by Devon County Highways, believed to be the first in the country which gives priority to a cul de sac.

They say a semi-circular structure built out into the road and wicker screen has exacerbated the problem, because motorists can no longer see traffic approaching in the opposite direction.

But engineers have based their design on figures that suggest there are more traffic movements from the estate of 42 homes than from the hamlets and farms at Weir Quay.

Parish councillor Mike Benson said there was considerable anger about the scheme: 'What has not been taken into account is the amount and type of traffic which travels to and from Weir Quay — there are 60-plus dwellings beyond Pentillie Road and all sorts of large goods vehicles, tractors, trailers with boats on and tourists use this road.'

He said the road beyond the estate was narrow and in the past, drivers would stop and wait for vehicles, because it was not wide enough for two to pass.

'To negotiate the traffic island is hard enough but with no visibility as to what is coming the other way, it is very dangerous. Large vehicles and trailers will not be able to reverse up the road. It is absolutely barking.'

Dr Francis Howard, who lives at Weir Quay, agreed: 'I suppose the piece that has been built out into the road and the willow screen has been put there to slow people down, but it has made it very awkward and very dangerous.

'I think it is an accident waiting to happen and it is dreadful that we have to wait for someone to be hurt before the county can modify it.'

West Devon Borough Council planning officer Ed Persse said the plans for the Pentillie Road estate first came before the council in 2006 and the road priority alteration had always been included in those plans.

The application by Cavanna Homes had gone through the normal planning procedure, so councillors, at parish and borough level, should have been fully aware of them, he said.

Cavanna said due to local concerns, and in consultation with the highway authority, the company was carrying out a further review and analysis at its own expense and would comply with the results.

A spokesman for Devon County Council highways said he had received correspondence from residents of Pentillie Road who were happy with the new road arrangement because it slowed the traffic down.

'If we had gone for a simple T-junction at the estate to get good visibility in both directions, it would have meant taking out over 40 metres of hedgebank which would not have been good from an environmental point of view,' he said.

'The plans have gone through the normal consultation process and the road scheme has had an independent safety audit which will be repeated when it is finished.'

He added the logic behind the layout was that the new development could generate up to 300 vehicle movements a day, whereas traffic coming up from Weir Quay amounted to 60 vehicle movements a day, according to the parish council.

The spokesman disputed that visibility down Pentillie Road had been compromised: 'If people cannot negotiate this new layout, which is well signed, with their tractors and trailers, they are not going to get much further down the road to Weir Quay because it is a narrow country road with few passing places,' he said.