£50 million needed for roads

The 2 councils want to develop near a "special protection area"

A Government funding bid to pay for nearly £50m of infrastructure in South West of Exeter will be submitted by Devon County Council.

The area around the A379 - behind the Devon Hotel, is identified in Teignbridge District and Exeter City Council’s local plans for 2,500 dwellings and five hectares of employment land.

But, it's close to the Exe Estuary Special Protection Area, so the infrastructure work is needed in advance to enable the development to progress.

Planning permission for 1,500 homes in Exminster, as well as for a massive industrial park at Peamore that could create 1,600 new jobs have been granted.

Devon County Council’s Cabinet has given the thumbs up for officers to put in a bid totalling £46.7m to the Housing Infrastructure Fund which would pay for a range of transport improvements, primarily aimed at the access to the housing developments off the A379.

The infrastructure improvements identified in the bid are:

• Pedestrian/cycle bridge to provide a crossing of the A379, serving the school and community facilities – £2.5m
• Servicing of school site to enable delivery of the approved Free School – £2m
• Electricity upgrade – new primary sub-station to provide additional capacity to accommodate the residential and employment development – £2m
• Contributions towards Marsh Barton Rail Station to complete its funding package – £2m
• Three new signal junctions on the A379 and associated widening over 1.5km highway – £10m
• Southern spine road through multiple landownerships to unlock all parcels south of the A379 and provide an early public transport corridor – £12m
• Capacity upgrade to ‘Devon Hotel’ roundabout on the A379 to deliver sufficient capacity for development and maintain access to large development site – £2.5m
• Realignment of Chudleigh Road and new signal junction to address a safety concern and unlock development to the north of the A379 – £6m
• Provision of foul drainage along the A379 – £2m
• Alphington Village enhancements to mitigate the impact on the existing community – £500,000
• New access roundabout on the A379 to unlock a new employment site – £2.5m
• Suitable Alternative Natural Green Space (SANGS) to mitigate the impact on the Exe Estuary – £2.7m

A Free School that will include primary, secondary and nursery provision on the site would be brought forward by the bid, although the location of the school and efficiencies of locating the provision on a single site and the need for a pedestrian / cycle bridge to provide a safe crossing of the A379 for a large volume of users have not yet been agreed.

The cabinet unanimously approved submitting a bid to the Housing Infrastructure Fund, administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, to assist in delivering infrastructure to support development at South West Exeter, as well as entering into a legal agreement with developers and land owners and to progress negotiations with the Education and Skills Funding Agency to deliver a new all through school.

The funding would pay for a range of transport improvements primarily aimed at the access to the housing developments off the A379.  It also includes a series of improvements to drainage, electricity, works in Alphington Village and provision of a areas of green space to mitigate the impact on the Exe Estuary.

Officers plan to submit the application to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government by the September 10 deadline.