Despite the date, this is no April Fool - although it may well read like one.
Rumour has it that Aggregate Industries' revised plans to access the B3174 Exeter Road, with up to 200 HGV movements a day, have run into trouble already.
SLR had already pointed out how dangerous this road would be:
The southern option, onto the B3174, was dismissed early in the process on highway safety grounds 5.44
Now another set of consultants are set to recommend that, for safety reasons, HGVs exiting the site would be restricted to only turning left onto this fast straight road - in other words, eastwards in the direction of Ottery, not towards Woodbury Common where AI want to process the material.
Outgoing HGVs would then need to find somewhere to turn around, before their 8-mile journey to Blackhill, which is obviously unworkable.
How AI will get around this problem, short of burying the report, or major road works, is anybody’s guess; an SLR Feasibility Appraisal in 2011 ruled out roundabouts and signalised T-junctions for this road.
It will be surprising if AI’s revised planning applications land on DCC’s desk any time soon.
