I WAS talking to a resident of Lewdown the other day and the subject of Okehampton came up. 'I haven't been there for ages,' she said, 'it is just too much hassle to get through the traffic.'
The time has come to face facts. Ever since the main street of Okehampton was narrowed and the traffic lights converted to one way working, large parts of the day have seen long and unacceptable delays.
No worse than Exeter it is argued. Okehampton is not Exeter. It competes against Tavistock and Launceston, both with out of town shopping and free parking. Our local authority needs to realise that customers have a choice and, however well intentioned, Okehampton is being strangled by its congestion which is out of all proportion to the size of the town and is now probably far worse than the days before the by-pass was built.
The present situation will result in lasting damage to trade that this town simply cannot afford.
As an immediate improvement could we not either install a mini-roundabout system at the main crossing, or at least go back to the system of two changes instead of four.
I know this is more challenging for motorists but what we have now is simply not good enough and a northern relief road remains in the quagmire of bureaucracy.
I am told mini-roundabouts are impractical because large vehicles would find it difficult to negotiate. What are the large vehicles doing in Okehampton anyway? Why isn't the ban on heavy lorries rigorously enforced?
I cannot help feeling that if the people responsible for traffic management were paid by results in relation to congestion relief, then we would get something other than excuses.
Richard Leonard
Menfreya
Thorndon Cross