SPEEDING concerns on the picturesque West Devon Drive are to be addressed by Devon County Council which is trying to discourage vehicles using it as a main trunk road.

The road, which was the old A30, has been the subject of complaints from local residents and other road users about speeding since it was declassified.

The main problems are from motorcycles and heavy goods vehicles, said Bob Westlake, a member of Devon?s Westcountry Association, which has spent more than £100,000 maintaining and enhancing the hedgerows and verges to promote West Devon Drive as a tourist route.

He said: ?This is a picturesque route which is used by horse riders and cyclists and their interests seem to be in conflict with speeding motor cycles and heavy lorries.?

Mr Westlake said it was puzzling why lorries used the road when they could use the A30: ?We do not want to stop people from travelling on the West Devon Drive, but slowing the speed would certainly help the situation.?

Devon County Council?s deputy local service officer Nick Pogodin said the 12-mile West Devon Drive from Lifton Down to Sourton Cross had been the subject of a recent consultants? report which included traffic calming measures.

?We are looking at the long-term strategy of that road and various ways in which we can take it away from its current standing as it was when it was a trunk road to a rural county road which would discourage speed,? he said.

Changing the priority on junctions, installing new speed limits, plus the introduction of cycleways and areas for horse riding, are all suggestions which will go out for consultation with parish councils next month.

Mr Pogodin said the authority was hoping to carry out some works in this financial year on West Devon Drive outside Lewtrenchard Primary School and constructing a footway from Cross Lanes towards Bridestowe.

He added: ?Before anything goes on the ground we will also be consulting with local residents.

?The recommendations in the report are just possibilities at the moment and will depend on finances. We are looking at spending a few thousand pounds each year over a 20-year period.?