RESIDENTS, councillors and members of Newton Abbot Fishing Association turned up in force on Sunday to protest about the closure of the B3344 Bovey Tracey-Chudleigh Knighton road.

Between 40 and 50 people gathered across the main road where the carriageway is sealed off at the Bovey Tracey end.

It was shut at the beginning of this month and will remain closed until the end of March while work is carried out to realign the road and install a rising main and culvert at Bradley Bends, for the new Bovis Homes Williams Gate development.

Devon County Council has been heavily criticised for its lack of consultation on the issue, and both the council and Bovis have been accused by residents of riding roughshod over everyone.

Bovey Tracey resident Roger Brothwood, who organised Sunday’s protest, wrote to the county council’s head of highways David Whitton, on Wednesday last week, pointing out that the traffic order did not prohibit anyone from walking on the affected roads.

He also maintained that the road was closed for about 200 metres more than authorised by the order, and access by vehicle to land or premises (Bradley Pond) on or adjacent to the affected road was not possible.

‘Will you please take immediate steps to ensure the contractor complies with the terms of the traffic order and that the access is available at all times? Will you please keep me informed of what action you have taken to ensure compliance by the contractor?’ he wrote.

Mr Brothwood said if he did not get a satisfactory reply he would take the matter up with the Ombudsman.

On Tuesday, he received a reply from a county council customer relations officer saying his letter had been passed to the customer relations team to process as a complaint.

The letter stated: ‘We have forwarded your complaint to the service who will arrange to have your concerns considered and respond to you direct within a maximum of 20 working days.’

Newton Abbot Fishing Association which has the rights on Bradley Pond – for which it pays £1,000 a year – is unable to use it until the work is finished.

Secretary John Mitchell said the association had contacted Bovis in November regarding the planned closure of the road and had been informed that ‘access to Bradley Pond would not be a problem’.

In a statement this week Bovey Tracey Town Council said it remained extremely unhappy about the current closure situation.

‘At last week’s finance, resources and general purposes committee, members had the opportunity to consider further post-closure action and agreed that it would be prudent to contact the Local Government Ombudsman over the temporary traffic regulation order process employed by the county council.

‘In addition, an invitation will be sent to Cllr John Hart, inviting the leader of the county council to meet with town councillors to further discuss the process and resulting implications, in an attempt to see how those responsible organisations can work better in the future to avoid the issues that are currently being experienced for the betterment of all.

‘The town clerk, Mark Wells, has also formally thanked Stagecoach for continuing to operate a bus service during this unfortunate and unwelcome period of disruption,’ added the statement.