OKEHAMPTON town councillors are calling for a relief road to be put in place to ease traffic congestion in the town centre if plans for a third supermarket go ahead.

Members of the town council this week supported an application by Lidi for a supermarket on the old primary school site in School Way but expressed major concerns about additional traffic coming into the town's 'pinchpoint'

Cllr Tony Leech said if the new Waitrose supermarket was going to draw people into town as was predicted, and Lidi was the same, all the traffic, which included that travelling to Somerfield, would be coming down Market Street.

'If Waitrose is successful the situation will be horrendous,' he said.

German food giants Lidi, are at the cheaper end of the market. It has been claimed that they open stores near quality stores like Waitrose in order to 'piggy-back' off their trade.

Town councillors were of the opinion that a cheaper supermarket was needed in Okehampton.

Cllr Olive Hayward said a lot of people she had met had been in favour of a Lidi supermarket.

'It is good for competition and there are a lot of people in Okehampton who feel they will not be able to afford to shop in Waitrose.

'We have to think of everyone and if a certain amount of people will use it I am happy about it.'

Cllr Bill Bourne said a road from the inner bypass which linked with Oaklands Drive and North Street to take vehicles to and from the east side of town was the answer to alleviating the traffic problem.

'There is a way we can go about this which is we approach the right people,' he said. 'We need to speak to the Highways Department and West Devon Borough Council and push for a link road.'

He also said that it appeared within the plans that a footbridge was to be constructed to the side of the Ockment Centre to allow people easy access to the town centre from the North Street area.

At present, people were actually going through the Okement Centre building to access a footbridge on the other side.

Cllr Gill Lower said she was concerned about the pedestrians who were at risk from all the traffic, especially with the school nearby.

'I appreciate a link road coming through solves the problem with the vehicles but there will still be parents and children using that area to get to school.'

Cllr Leech told the meeting a link road should have been discussed when the Waitrose application was on the table.

'A lot of ideas have gone into Okehampton without looking at the bigger picture.

'The link road might never come and if this Lidl supermarket goes ahead the whole of the town will have to put up with the traffic problem.'

It was agreed to support the application subject to a number of conditions including a link road, footbridge, restrictions on delivery vehicles parking in School Way and unloading and loading times during the silent hours.

The application is due to go before the planning committee of West Devon Borough Council in March.