By-pass talks reopen

THE A376 debate has sparked up again with Lympstone councillors leading the way, holding preliminary talks with local councils on building a new Exmouth-Exeter by-pass.The parish council created an interest group and has been meeting with Exmouth Town Council, Woodbury Parish Council and Clyst St George Parish Council to work together to lobby for a new road.Following increasing traffic pressure on the A376, Lympstone councillors are appealing to the surrounding villages to work together.A proposal will be drawn up by the interest group, which will be made up of representative ward councillors, and will work to pressurise the Highways Agency.The councils will be meeting next week to decide on the final route for the proposed road.A draft proposal suggests the by-pass should run in between the A376 and B3179, from Dinan Way to the Clyst St George roundabout, avoiding the villages, and through the farms.Councillor Robert Longhurst, the leading figure of the focus group, said: "We have always said there should not be any more development until the problems of the A376 are sorted."The road doesn't sustain the traffic - in 20 years the number of cars has risen by 6,000."This is the very start of a very big movement - the money has to be found for the infrastructure."The group was formed after the Regional Development Agency for the South West revealed Exmouth would need 3,000 new houses and hundreds more in the surrounding area. The Exmouth Community Association has also sent Devon County Council a report on ways to improve the A376.Lympstone Chairman Councillor Peter Acca said that, although the group was working to achieve the same purpose of reducing traffic, their proposal of calming measures would not solve anything and would just make the A376 into a "big car-park".