ALTERATIONS being made by Devon County Council on a busy stretch of road near Tavistock have been described as vandalism by a town councillor. The Highways Agency is putting in traffic calming measures outside the Old Toll House junction on Old Launceston Road. The aim of the works is to 'persuade' motorists on the A384 heading for Tavistock to choose the road directly towards the town rather than Old Launceston Road. But the 'improvements' are not to everyone's taste. Tavistock Town Cllr Iain Andrews is concerned that roadworks being carried out on Old Launceston Road adjacent to the Manor housing development 'could be considered to be an act of vandalism'. He said: 'The old "Devon" hedgebank has been cut back and instead of facing it with a sympathetic material, such as dry-stone walling that is presently used in adjacent areas, bland grey concrete paving slabs have been set upright at the back of a new and very narrow tarmaced area. 'I will not call it a footpath as it is too obviously narrow for that. 'It is disappointing that when other owners take so much time and also bear the costs to enhance the "environment", the department of the county council with that responsibility, seemingly totally ignores the same criteria. 'It would be nice to see, even at this late stage, someone from the county council coming forward to stop this decimation and instead reinstate what has been destroyed before it is too late.' Traffic will be increased in the area by an anticipated several hundred car movements a day as new housing is being developed — Wimpey are building 56 two, three and four bedroomed homes at their Manor Grove site while Persimmons are building 17 residential homes of two, three and four bedroomed and 14 social housing units at Manor Park. Chris Gubby, a development managing officer for the county council, said the works had been carried out to the original planning permission. The brief was to provide a five and a half metre carriageway and a narrow footpath. He said: 'We have tried to retain the Devon hedgebank as best as we could with the minimal disturbance. 'The problem was that as soon as you touch it, it could have collapsed.' He added that the slabs used to prop up the bottom of the bank might not be visually the best solution but they were the most practical in retaining the bank and given time the works would look better once it weathered. It was also important that there was a good clean sweep to the line of the kerbage and this had been done by the contractors. The tarmac footpath had been put in as a linking path for pedestrians as there was no footway for them before and this gave them protection from passing traffic. Work continues this week to complete and finish off the works.
