Surveyors contracted to Aggregate Industries were out today assessing site access onto the B3174 Exeter Road - the main road from Ottery St Mary to the Daisymount A30 junction. Five alternative site access points were surveyed; at least three were judged to have unacceptable visibility splays.
AI had been looking to transport material to Blackhill using access onto the Old A30 via Birdcage Lane; even this last week, an AI surveyor was out again working on this option. The fact that AI is now looking at the B3174 is perhaps because the company now recognises that the game is up over claiming it has access rights across 3rd party land onto the old A30, or perhaps because the company wants to answer Hugo Swire MP's request:
If planning is eventually granted then I do feel that DCC should explore alternative entry and exit points to mitigate the disruption that this development will cause.
Whatever the reason, the Google Street View of the B3174 may look peaceful, yet this straight fast road is normally anything but - as local people will attest. Laden 44-tonne HGVs turning onto this road and crawling up this long incline would surely be a recipe for trouble. The photograph below shows what happened the last time just one of AI’s vehicles left Birdcage Lane to go up the B3174; AI would want to put up to 200 HGV movements along this stretch every day.
After "three years of careful planning and consideration", AI's plans are still up in the air.
