Made-Well’s Laura Feaver has renewed the push to complete the Tarka Trail circle which would provide a safe footpath between Hatherleigh and Meeth.

Currently, the Tarka Trail footpath ends at Made-Well in Hatherleigh and does not start again until Meeth forcing pedestrians and cyclists to follow the main road between the two waypoints, which Ms Feaver argues is particularly dangerous.

She said: ‘You’ve basically got a cycle path that ends at Made-Well and doesn’t start again until Meeth. So you’ve got to go out on the road and this particular part of the road is very dangerous — you wouldn’t take children out there.’

This is not the first time such a suggestion has been made as a previous attempt to join the two ends of the footpaths together was put forward around five years ago.

Ms Feaver added: ‘It was all agreed and got the planning and the compulsory order but it’s just gone stale and nothing’s really progressed for some time.

‘We’ve taken upon ourselves to have all the evidence and community support for it to help with the drive. I know that the last time it went to a Devon County Council meeting, the petition was a very good supporting factor.

‘Now I’ve just reshared it and got people to re-engage with it. There’s more people signing it and more people putting comments on now.’

Supporters of the plan have argued that the new addition would improve safety for those unable to drive and must otherwise walk or cycle along the main road and would also attract tourism to the area and promote better health and wellbeing.

They have also argued that the new footpath would ensure that the Tarka Trail is more accessible to those with mobility issues and those pushing prams or buggies.

The current route takes hikers and cyclists through Sheepwash along a very circuitous and hilly road which is not suitable for all walkers.

As the Times went to press, over 700 people had signed the petition.

Named after Tarka the Otter from Henry Williamson’s famous book, the Tarka Trail is a 180-mile figure-of-eight walking and cycling trail through the north Devon countryside.

The trail starts at the market town of Barnstaple and stretches from as far north as Lynton, a town on the north Devon coast to Okehampton and the north of Dartmoor at the most southerly tip of the route.