aPARISH councillors claim there has been a lack of consultation by Devon County Council regarding plans to cut speed on the West Devon Drive.

They say a speed reduction will completely alter the character of the 12-mile route from Lifton Down to Sourton Cross.

County council officers have been criticised for commissioning a 50-page document of suggestions for the road after pressure from tourism businesses and horse riders who use the route.

An article in last week?s Times explained how the council was trying to discourage vehicles using West Devon Drive as a main trunk road which was its status when it was the old A30.

Devon?s Westcountry Association, whose aim is to promote the road as a tourist route, has welcomed the report.

But chairman of Lifton Parish Council Colin Warne said the problem of lorries and motorcyclists speeding on the road, which seemed to be the main concern of lobby groups, did not really exist in Lifton.

?Lorries have to travel through the village to get to businesses like Ambrosia Creamery and Dalgety?s Feed Mill and as far as we are concerned they are not a problem ? in fact, they travel quite carefully through the village.

?It appears that the county council has consulted a few groups like horse riders, but it is the motorists and the local communities that should take priority over riders.?

Mr Warne said there were very few recommendations he agreed with in the report and many would be detrimental rather than beneficial: ?We have asked for meetings with the county council but so far we have not had a look in.

?A few parish councillors will be given a chance to talk to the county council in July but then we will only be given a month?s consultation period rather than than the usual three months.?

Other parish councils along the route also voiced concern about a lack of consultation and various suggestions such as road narrowing at the entrance to villages and on the main highway to make room for footpaths, causing difficulty for lorries and farm vehicles passing each other.

Chairman of Lewdown Parish Council Peter Tinworth said the suggestions were likely to be ?very controversial? because local people had not been in favour of road narrowing in the past.

He said: ?If special events are held in local pubs the traffic spills out onto the road and narrowing the carriageway would create problems.

?We just feel it is very late in the day to start asking people who live here what should be done.?

Bridestowe Parish Council is due to meet next week to discuss the report. Chairman John Leonard said until something was written down on paper, it was very difficult to consult everyone.

?We need to have something in front of us and that is what the county council has done ? I am just glad someone has bothered to do a plan because there are definitely problems with that road.?

Deputy service officer for the county council Nick Pogodin said the whole point of the document was to gauge local opinion and nothing would be done without the consent of local people.

He said Devon?s Westcountry Association had no input into the report apart from the fact it was consulted because of finances: ?This organisation has access to funds which we don?t and that could be helpful in the future,? he said. ?Most of the report is about motorised traffic but as far as horse riders go we needed to get information from them to include this aspect of travel in the report.?