Missing school footpath in Okehampton to be funded by council

A missing section of a footpath that would provide a safe route to school from new housing in Okehampton will be funded by West Devon Borough Council to the tune of £150,000.

The footpath will be built next summer at Crediton Road, with developers contributing £100,000.

Cllr Lynn Daniel (Green, South Tawton) said at the authority’s ‘hub’ committee meeting this week that developers should be responsible for funding all of it, and she was not happy about the money coming out of the council’s ‘active travel’ budget.

More than 770 homes are being built in the Crediton Road area on the eastern edge of Okehampton, known as the ‘urban extension’.

Developers are asked to make infrastructure improvements or make financial contributions as part of legal agreements with councils when they secure planning permission.

Currently, children have no safe route to the new primary school and must go along the road or take a longer diversion, councillors were told.

Cllr Caroline Mott (Con, Bridestowe) said development in the area was piecemeal, and although there were safe routes to school in the original plans, this changed when the location of the new primary school changed.

Cllr Neil Jory (Con, Milton Ford) said it was an error during the planning process, which was “regrettable”, but the council was now trying to do something about it.

“We have managed to negotiate with one of the developers to provide some of the funding, but we either move on and grab this and do it with the money we have available, or leave it as an unsafe route to school for many children.

“In an ideal world, this would not have happened, but we are dealing with realities here, and it’s the best way of resolving this particular issue.”

Devon County Council has agreed to build the footpath if full funding is secured.

West Devon has approximately £400,000 of funding available to support active travel.

The committee agreed to spend £150,000 of it on the missing footpath section.

Earlier in the meeting, Cllr Daniel said she would like some of the money to be used for providing safe walkways and cycleways in rural areas, and not just concentrated in Okehampton and Tavistock.