Fears that Okehampton’s congestion levels will rocket up have arisen after Devon County Council suggested removing the weight restriction on vehicles passing through the town.

Currently any vehicle over 7.5 tonnes must apply for an exemption to use the diversion route, which passes through Okehampton, when the A30 or M5 is closed. But the county council’s proposal would remove the need for the exemption, raising concerns that this could exacerbate Okehampton’s traffic problems as larger vehicles pass through the town centre.

Okehampton Town Councillor Tony Leech, said: ‘When it comes to the A30 being closed, we have all the traffic that comes through from both ways. The weight restriction has been on for a long, long time, apart from access for lorries coming into the estates or the supermarkets, and we have this weight limit for a very good reason.

‘The amount of articulated and big lorries that use the A30 will be put through Okehampton. It comes to a standstill just for cars and caravans so I hate to think what it would be like if we have heavy transport at the same time.’

But the county council argued in the amendment order that the change was necessary as it would reduce administrative and financial costs for both National Highways and Devon County Council.

In the statement of reasons, the county council wrote: ‘The purpose of this Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) is to formalise weight limit exemptions that currently occur when the A30 or M5 is closed, through a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order (TTRO). Therefore, it is proposed to amend the original Weight Restriction TROs to allow such vehicles to proceed on the diversion routes without the need of a TTRO on each occurrence, saving on National Highways and Devon County Council’s administrative time spent on the TTRO, as well as the financial costs associated.’

However, chair of OkeRail Michael Ireland described such a move as a ‘retrograde step’ and a return to the days before the Okehampton Bypass, which was built in 1988 in order to alleviate heavy congestion in the town, and suggested that the freight goods might be moved across Devon via the railway.

He said: ‘I was not very impressed by it. I felt that it would cause more difficulties in the town having heavy lorries going through, but that’s my opinion as someone involved in transport. What the council are doing is reintroducing a problem that we had pre-bypass. It’s detrimental to have more heavy transport in the town which is already quite congested.

‘There is the possibility to have freight traffic to Meldon. It would be better if freight was taken off the road and moved from Meldon via railhead.’

In response to Devon County Council’s announcement, Okehampton Town Council has called an extraordinary town council meeting for next month in which councillors will debate the county council’s proposal.

Residents will be able to submit a comment on the proposal until January 12 and can do so at https://www.devon.gov.uk/roadsandtransport/parking/traffic-regulation-orders/advertised-tros/