Progress on Road Safety in Newton St Cyres
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A follow up road safety meeting arranged by Ward Councillor Graeme Barnell was held in the village hall on October 8th, the meeting was attended by the Parish Council, County Councillor Margaret Squires and three senior DCC Highways managers led by as Jamie Hulland, Transportation Strategy & Road Safety Manager.

The meeting first discussed the proposed cycle route from Crediton to Exeter (recently been added to the Greater Exeter Transport Strategy) and how it may work together with our local Boniface Trail Group.

However, the main item on the agenda was the presentation by highways of their comprehensive report on the three (now four) options for the installation of a pedestrian controlled puffin crossing in the centre of the village.
The busy A377 running through the middle of Newton St Cyres presented a large number of challenges to Jacobs, the engineers commissioned by Highways to produce this report for our village. The report is attached. 
A very constructive and positive meeting came to a satisfactory outcome, DCC HIghways are now willing to move forward with the installation of a Pedestrian Controlled Puffin crossing in the Centre of Newton St Cyres as per option d) which it will now submit for a safety audit.

This progress has to be tempered with the fact we are all aware that money is extremely tight and that the project is yet to pass a detailed safety audit before being fully costed and placed onto the Highways 20-21 Capital Project program. So it maybe some time before the pedestrian crossing is actually installed.
It is nevertheless extremely good news and after all these years it is a pleasant change to be able to publicly thank all involved, especially Highways and Jacobs for their hard work to date.  

​Click here to go to MDDC Councillor's page with minutes of the above meeting
Click here to access jacobs_option_d.pdf
Click here to access the Report from Jacobs Engineers​

Clllr Roger Cashmore

​SAFETY FOR PEDESTRIANS
in Newton St Cyres
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There are two plans to make the road safer in the village. First, It is being suggested that Newton will be the first village in the county to be equipped with average speed cameras.   Where these have been deployed in Cornwall there has been a really significant reduction in the speed of vehicles. We have all seen that the average speed cameras on motorways are really effective. They will, apparently be clearly signed and drivers will have no way of escaping them. Lets hope that this makes the A377 safer for everyone.

It may well be that by controlling the speed of the traffic there is no need for the second plan.

The second plan is for a traffic light controlled crossing for pedestrians in the centre of the village. The original plans for two alternatives first suggested were available for all to see at the Parish Meeting on 4th. April. The third alternative has been suggested by Cllr Roger Cashmore and is shown above.
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All three plans are available on the Parish Council website by clicking here.

It is important to note that these are preliminary plans and there will be a long period of consultation. If you would like to make your views known then you can do so via the Parish Council or by using the message tool below. If you do this we will publish your views on this website.

“Geoff’s new Viking assault trike.”  Perhaps the answer!

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