IN the issue of Thursday, June 16 2005, a letter from me was published under the heading, 'Admit it - Town traffic scheme was a huge mistake'.
Now four years on we have not seen any attempts to sort out the problem and nothing to lead one to believe Devon County Council have the slightest intention of addressing the issue and are prepared to allow Central Government to impose yet more development requirements to make matters worse.
At that time a councillor in the 'Hamlets', only some two miles along the old A30, said that he would have to drive to 'Tesco in Launceston', quicker than queuing to get into Okehampton via New Road to support local supermarkets.
Exeter Road is going to bear the brunt of the massive extra houses but it is worth pointing out that last Thursday I spent 43 minutes 'in a traffic jam' in that same area and in that time waited for three changes of signals whilst being head of the line by Lloyds Bank, unable to proceed because of gridlock in Fore Street.
Do county councillors not travel or attempt to move through the town? Perhaps they buy their groceries 'on-line' and so remain above the likes of the 'hoi-polloi' and are serviced clients, thus not put out by these inconveniences. I personally like to visit shops and choose brands in which I have confidence rather than have a similar one imposed.
Whatever one's choice, though, Okehampton cannot continue to be subjected to this traffic system, which was unbearable since 1995 and is now infinitely worse, with no prospect of improvement.
I suggest in a subsequent letter in that same year to ride in a pony and trap from the top of Exeter Road to the Waitrose area, collect my requirements and get back to the starting point before someone else in a mechanised vehicle to highlight the farcical system. I was never challenged, although a decent 'bet was offered'.
The county council and decision makers knew they couldn't win, although the money would have been extracted from the council tax and so cost them nothing.
Derek Godfrey-Brown
Larkbeare
Okehampton