Category Archives: Infrastructure

Infrastructure, west somerset

Have your say on cycling in West Somerset

Guest post from Sarah Ellwood, The Steam Coast Trail

Terrified of cycling on the A39? Sick of cyclists on the road? Wish your kids could safely cycle to school? Take our very quick ten-question survey.

The government’s recent announcements to invest £2 billion to encourage more cycling and walking is very welcomed. There’s plenty of work going on in urban areas to improve the safety of cyclists and get more people out on their bikes, but way less in rural areas such as West Somerset. We are working to change this.

The phenomenal success of our first two paths prove that people want to cycle in West Somerset: since 2017 we’ve recorded over 180,000 trips, over a third of which are cycle trips.

I know I saw loads more bikes out on the roads during lockdown, especially families. On my rides I’d sometimes see more cyclists than cars so I know lots of you are out there! But the numbers are definitely dipping now restrictions are easing and we want to know why.

Experienced in providing safe places to cycle, the Steam Coast Trail team has a pretty good idea of what these barriers to more cycling may be. But to progress our mission to make more lovely mixed-use paths we need evidence to highlight what’s stopping so many people from using a bike for short journeys in West Somerset.

Whether you’re almost permanently dressed in Lycra or hate the thought of getting on a bike, please take our quick ten-question survey. It’ll just take a minute or two!

Thanks very much,

Sarah Ellwood
Project Officer – Steam Coast Trail

Infrastructure, News issued by a local Council, north devon

LINK ROAD IMPROVEMENTS WILL UNLOCK NORTH DEVON’S ECONOMIC POTENTIAL

Last week’s announcement that £83 million has been awarded to improve the A361 has been met with delight by North Devon Councillors.

The first phase of a multi-million pound upgrade to improve the North Devon Link Road will widen the stretch of road between Barnstaple and South Molton and will significantly improve safety along the route. Improving transport links between the M5 and North Devon will also unlock the district’s potential for growth and enhance the economic prosperity of the area.

Leader of North Devon Council, Des Brailey, says: “This is a great result for Devon County Council and for North Devon as a whole. Improvements to the Link Road are long overdue and will be essential if we are to meet our economic development potential. We need this kind of investment in our infrastructure to allow us to grow and flourish as a district. Huge thanks to our MP Peter-Heaton Jones and our county councillor, Andrea Davis, for all the hard work they have put in to make this happen.”

Executive Member for Economic Development and Regeneration, Councillor Pat Barker, says: “This is wonderful news for North Devon and as well as the obvious improvements this will make to safety, the economic impact will be immeasurable. This investment is a massive boost for us – it will make North Devon more attractive to businesses, open up more outside investment in the area and improve job prospects and prosperity. If it’s good for business, then it’s good for North Devon.

“Our economic development team has been supporting this project throughout and we look forward to continuing to work closely with Devon County Council as the scheme develops. I would like to thank our MP Peter Heaton-Jones for his constant lobbying, without which I feel sure we wouldn’t have had such a good result.”

Devon County Council’s Cabinet Member for Infrastructure, Councillor Andrea Davis, says: “The North Devon Link Road is a vital route for the county as a whole, and this announcement confirms that the government has recognised the issues of getting in and out of North Devon.

“The uplift to our economy in North Devon of the improvements to our main route will give a huge boost to our economy, the benefits will be felt by local residents, businesses and our visitors.

“Devon County Council and its partners including the Local Enterprise Partnership have been tireless in their support for this regionally important route, today the result of all this activity has paid off for our beautiful area of Devon.  We at Devon County Council look forward to the continued partnership working to now deliver the scheme and will be looking for opportunities to seek funding for the North Devon Link Road strategy adopted by the DCC cabinet last year.”

PHOTO: Left to right: Cllr Jane Whittaker (Leader, Torridge District Council); Peter Heaton-Jones MP (North Devon); Cllr Andrea Davis (Cabinet Member for Infrastructure, Devon County Council); Chris Grayling MP (Secretary of State for Transport); Geoffrey Cox MP (Torridge & West Devon); Cllr Pat Barker (Deputy Leader, North Devon Council).

Infrastructure, mid devon, Roads and transport

SUBSTANTIAL INVESTMENT TO UNLOCK MID DEVON’S GROWTH

Millions of pounds of investment into infrastructure in Mid Devon was announced at the end of last week.

Mid Devon District Council applied to the Government in September 2017 to receive money as part of its Housing Infrastructure Fund. The fund was set up to allow investment in physical infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges, the absence of which is holding back housebuilding.

On Thursday 1 February the Council learned it was successful with its bids for both Tiverton and Cullompton, unlocking the growth potential for both towns.

Cullompton will receive £10 million to undertake short-term improvements to Junction 28 of the M5 motorway, in advance of a proposed longer-term junction upgrade. The funding will deliver improvement works to increase capacity at the junction by creating an additional lane on the approach to the junction from Cullompton, to provide two lanes in each direction on the motorway bridge, the construction of new footbridges and full signalisation of the motorway junction.

The second pot of money will see £8.2 million of funding to implement the second phase of the new A361 junction to serve the Tiverton Eastern Urban Extension. Contractors for Devon County Council are currently on site implementing the southern side slip roads as part of phase one. Phase two of the junction will complete the full junction through the provision of an overbridge and north side slip roads, giving a full-movement, grade-separated junction.

Councillor Richard Chesterton, Cabinet Member for Planning, Economy and Regeneration, said, “This is fantastic news for Mid Devon and demonstrates the Government’s support for Mid Devon in providing infrastructure ahead of growth.”

Commenting on the success, Council Leader Clive Eginton said, “This shows not only the quality of our own bids, but, with success being repeated across the Greater Exeter area, also demonstrates the value in working at scale to show combined impact and grab the attention of Government.”

You can view the release and diagrams here.

Infrastructure

Roadworks at Washford Cross

EDF is planning to build a new roundabout at Washford Cross to make this busy crossing point on the A39 safer.

A representative from EDF Energy says: “We’ve planned the work carefully to ensure the A39 remains open both ways whilst the work is undertaken. The B3190 will be closed whilst the roundabout is built, an alternative route via Williton is being put in place, which will be appropriately signposted.

“Preparatory work for the alternative route to ensure that the Five Bells junction and the Williton junction can accommodate larger vehicles started in December. This should be complete within two weeks. The B3190 will then be closed. We will temporarily re-open the B3190 over the Christmas and busy summer holiday period.

“We’re confident the roundabout will be in operation within a year.
Aggregate Industries will be undertaking this work on our behalf. Working hours are between 7am-7pm from Monday to Friday and 8am-1pm on Saturdays.

“We do appreciate the inconvenience that this work could cause, and apologise for it, but hope that people understand the benefits of making the A39 permanently safer.”

Infrastructure, Roads and transport

Work begins on new ‘pay on exit’ car parking scheme

Work began this week to install pay-on-exit parking machines at two North Devon Council car parks in Barnstaple.

Bear Street and Hardaway Head (site of former Queen Street multi-storey) have been chosen to carry out the pilot parking project. This is to see if customers prefer to pay for the time they have parked rounded up to the hour, over the traditional pay and display method.

It will take about two weeks to lay the cabling and install the barriers and new payment machines. Both car parks will remain open during the work, with the contractor working on small sections of the car park at a time to minimise disruption.

The barrier system will involve customers obtaining a ticket for entry and paying the fee as they leave. It will mean they won’t have to rush back to their vehicles if their ticket is running out, which town centre businesses feel prevents people staying as long as they would like.

Executive Member for Economic Regeneration, Councillor Malcolm Prowse, says: “Hopefully this work shouldn’t cause too much disruption to car park users, as we will be working in stages and keeping both car parks open throughout.

“We had hoped to have this up and running before Christmas, but due to technical issues this hasn’t been possible. Therefore, the new pay-on-exit machines will go live in January.”

The council is introducing the scheme following feedback from local businesses, who believe the alternative method of payment will benefit the town. If the scheme is successful it could be rolled out to other council car parks in the district.

The pay-on-exit system at Bear Street and Hardaway Head will be launched in January 2015.