A £500,000 CYCLEWAY and underpass scheme through Tavistock, including a new bridge over the River Tavy, is set to take a step forward next month.

The Devon County Council scheme has now been submitted for planning consultation with interested parties, after receiving the thumbs up from the council's executive committee.

The tunnel under the A386 will form part of a new network of cycle paths through the Meadows, by the canal and across the River Tavy at Crowndale.

The first part of the scheme up for consultation is a cycle route parallel with the canal towpath, by Tavistock College and the primary school.

Graham Cornish, of the county's engineering design group, said: 'Our committee are extremely pleased with this scheme — there was a lot of favourable comment about it.

'Parents are scared to let their children cycle to school independently because of traffic, so they drive them which worsens traffic pollution. By providing a safe route it really should break that vicious circle.'

Mr Cornish hopes this first section of cycle route will be built by April.

The complete route, including the expensive underpass, will be completed in sections as funds become available and planning consents are gained. Mr Cornish hopes the entire scheme could be completed in about two years.

'We have the bridge already — it was taken down in North Devon because it couldn't carry traffic, so Tavistock will get a new, quality bridge that was listed, and we are re-using it — it's a collossal structure,' he said.

From the bridge, the cyclepath will go through Brook Industrial Estate and Safeway, across the pedestrian crossing after the roundabout towards Bishopsmead.

'From there the aim is to use the railway where possible, all the way to Horrabridge and from there we will build an off-road path across Roborough Down to Clearbrook, where there is the connection to Plymouth.'

Mr Cornish said the underpass has been 'carefully sited' to avoid mature trees in the Meadows as far as possible.

When the scheme was first put to Tavistock Town Council, which owns the Meadows, it was accepted that one tree would be sacrificed, and a new one planted.

Joe Flynn, headteacher at Tavistock Primary School, said: 'We are absolutely delighted — It's something we've really been waiting for for ages.

'We are delighted we can encourage walkers and cyclists now, which I didn't feel health and safety-wise we could do before.'

Mr Flynn said the pelican crossing outside the school was a 'nightmare', particularly on dark evenings.

'We will lose about a metre of ground by the fence, but the gains will be tremendous,' he said, adding he hoped to provide bike storage for pupils cycling to school, and make other improvements to the grounds.

Graham Stoate, assistant principal at Tavistock College, welcomed the scheme as a 'very important' safer access route into the school.

'It will also enable us to allow our students to come in on bikes, which they can't do at the moment because of the danger of Crowndale Road,' said Mr Stoate.