WEST Devon?s partnership committee has agreed to keep a watching brief on requests for a new relief road for Okehampton to ease traffic congestion in the town centre.
The need for a road linking Oaklands Drive to industrial estates on the north east fringe of the town was flagged up in the Times this month by West Devon and Torridge MP John Burnett.
At last week?s meeting of the partnership committee, Cllr Roger Mathew suggested a study into the need for such a road.
Cllr Mathew said: ?I know Okehampton members are particularly concerned about traffic problems and I would like this committee to support at least a feasibility study into a link road.?
Cllr Richard Phillips, mayor of West Devon, said he thought people living in Okehampton were ?desperate? for a solution and agreed a feasibility study would be a good idea.
Cllr Dennis Bater, mayor of Hatherleigh, said he doubted there would be any animosity to the idea of constructing a link road by people living locally, and wondered if there could be any ?leverage? for the scheme through the Market and Coastal Towns Initiative.
Cllr Christine Marsh, chairman of the committee and mayor of Okehampton, said she was due to attend a meeting concerning the idea of a link road with the county council?s environment director Ed Chorlton next month.
But John Smith of Devon County Council said Cllr Mathew?s proposal could be ?inopportune?.
He said a number of studies had already been undertaken as part of the ongoing process of preparing the new Local Plan for the area, which would be the subject of an independent public inquiry starting in January.
The committee agreed the question of a link road should be brought back to the next meeting in March, when more information may be available as a result of the Local Plan inquiry and the meeting with the county environment director.