Major Devon seaside town road scheme gets £3.1M boost

Government cash that could have been at risk of being handed back unspent will now go towards improvements on Exmouth’s Dinan Way.

Government cash that was at risk of needing to be handed back will now be spent on bolstering a major road scheme in a Devon town.

Exmouth secured £15.7 million in Levelling Up funding in February last year, with the cash earmarked for the Dinan Way extension but also improvements to the Gateway area near the town’s railway station.

However, Exmothians objected to part of the Gateway plans that would have involved filling in the pedestrian subway, prompting the Gateway proposals to be scrapped and the portion of funding for it to become uncertain.

That meant Devon County Council had to submit a request to the Department for Transport (DfT) to see whether the portion of cash allocated to the Gateway area could be used elsewhere in the town.

Now, the county council has confirmed that the roughly £3.1 million will be used to create new crossings on Dinan Way, as well as improve existing ones.

Furthermore, some parts of Dinan Way will see the pavements widened to accommodate cyclists and pedestrians, and an application will be made to put yellow lines on parts of Dinan Way where the road will be narrowed to accommodate the expanded pavements.

“By improving the road, you are making it busier and therefore we need active travel improvements and better crossings,” said Dan Thomas (Liberal Democrat, South Brent and Yealmpton), the cabinet member for highways.

He added that the proposals were “really important”, and that if they weren’t approved now, then the money might have to be returned to the DfT.

Cabinet members heard that while other schemes could be developed to encourage active travel, such as walking and cycling, the deadline by which the funding has to be used meant this was unrealistic.