Exmouth residents offered olive branch over damaged street

THE COUNTY council has offered an olive branch to angry residents by announcing plans to carry out urgent maintenance work on a severely damaged Exmouth street. Piles of broken-up tarmac are strewn across Lime Grove, believed to have cracked as a result o

THE COUNTY council has offered an olive branch to angry residents by announcing plans to carry out urgent maintenance work on a severely damaged Exmouth street.

Piles of broken-up tarmac are strewn across Lime Grove, believed to have cracked as a result of the bad winter weather. The local authority has announced it will undertake repair work, to cost �100,000, in April.

A spokesperson for Devon County Council said: "Due to its sudden deterioration, the road was closed to through traffic in the interests of safety for the travelling public and to prevent further problems.

"Residents still have access and are being asked to take extra care around the defects.

"This road will be one of our highest priorities for repair in the next financial year, and a scheme is being prepared which is due to start on 6 April and is expected to take around eight weeks."

Areas where the tarmac's worn away has left a number of potholes, causing problems to drivers who live on, or near the street.

A popular bus service which used to run down the road has been redirected to miss the area while maintenance work is carried out.

Town councillor Maddie Chapman said: "For the past several years Lime Grove has seen repair after repair - yet still the road surface has crumbled and become pot-holed.

"It has often been in a dangerous condition and it is unacceptable that local residents have had to have their road in such poor condition.

"The recent cold snap has basically finished the road off and it is no longer usable.