THERE has been much debate of late about the so-called St James improvement.
I think the real accolade for messing things up in Okehampton has to go to the traffic managers. A few years back we had no bypass and traffic volumes were at least as bad as they are now. We also had no traffic lights and apart from a few Saturdays a year the traffic flowed smoothly enough through Okehampton.
We then had a bypass, which, because it was built on the wrong side of the town, failed to relieve the traffic congestion from Crediton, Barnstaple and Bude to say nothing of the heavy lorries from the industrial estates to the north of Okehampton; a mistake the traffic managers have been trying to put right ever since by various sticking plaster solutions.
What has really messed up things more recently, however, is the erection of no fewer than three sets of traffic lights through Okehampton. Gridlock throughout most of the day has resulted.
Have traffic managers never heard of mini-roundabouts? A quick trip to Tavistock will quickly reveal how it can be done. It is true that roundabouts require a higher level of driving skill but the rewards in even traffic flows more than offsets this.
I also know the tired old arguments about our main crossroads by the town hall being offset will be trotted out but plenty of mini-roundabouts have been made to work well in more challenging circumstances.
I fear that decisions have always been and are continuing to be made by officials who do not rely on Okehampton to make a living.
What they need to realise is that like it or not Okehampton and its hinterland will live or die by the motor car and I say this as a person who probably uses public transport more than most!
We need to stop trying to make Okehampton a car-unfriendly pedestrianised urban precinct. This will kill the town stone dead. Okehampton businesses realise those people in their cars are customers and if they don't meet their needs they will use the free parking and easy access provided by the supermarkets in other towns. A nanny state that seems to advocate 'a car for me, and first class public transport for everybody else' has to stop. How many of our councillors attend meetings by bus!
If we want Okehampton to thrive what is needed is plenty of free parking space, yellow lines only where absolutely necessary rather than to maximise car parking revenues and a much more welcoming attitude to cars, their passengers and the money they bring to the town.
Yours more in hope than expectation.
Richard Leonard
Menfreya
Thorndon Cross