Dean of Exeter against rejected one-way system

Plans to make a key gateway into Exeter city centre into a one-way road have been thrown out after being criticised by the Dean of Exeter.

Devon County Council wanted to change Barnfield Road - which currently has traffic in both directions - into a one-way street, which would have left only one exit available from Southernhay.

The Very Reverend Jonathan Greener, said the plans were completely unnecessary and would have caused problems for motorists and delivery drivers trying to access Exeter Cathedral.

The £380,000 plans were supported by Exeter Cycling Campaign and a council report said they had "been designed to make Barnfield Road more accessible, attractive and safe for all".

The dean said more than 100 stallholders at the annual Christmas market on Cathedral Green had to access the area to make deliveries.

He said: "Every day there's a logjam at the roundabout at the end of Southernhay and this will just add to it and they'll cause extra greenhouse emissions and frustrated drivers.

"I don't think it's going to make anyone safer and it's going to cause immense frustration."

Greener said he had "every sympathy for the problem" but said council officers have "come up with the wrong solution".

"They're going to get all this traffic up Barnfield Road and then minimise the exit so we're going to have chaos in the city centre."

Mark Turner, who has a business in the city, said the plans were a waste of money and addressed a problem that did not exist.

Turner, who has set up an online petition against the scheme with more than 1,200 signatures, spoke at a meeting of the Exeter Highways and Traffic Orders Committee (Hatoc) where the plans were rejected by five votes to four.

He said making Barnfield Road one-way would "draw in the working and shopping driver like a rat into a trap".

Under the plans motorists would only have been able to exit the historic area of Southernhay by going out at the other end onto Magdalen Street.

Turner said the plans were a "profligate and pointless waste of taxpayers' money to address a problem that we know does not exist and at the expense of closing out enterprise, which is the life blood of the city".

Hatoc is made up of a combination of councillors from Devon County Council and Exeter City Council from various political parties.

Cycling campaigner Ed Pickering spoke in favour of the proposals at the meeting at County Hall and said pavements needed to be made wider to encourage pedestrians.

The meeting heard some drivers currently cut through Southernhay to avoid queuing in traffic on Western Way.

Pickering said: "We're using Southernhay as an open invitation to rat-runners."

According to the Devon County Council report Barnfield Road currently "feels unpleasant and unsafe due to the narrow footways, poor cycle provision and a lack of crossing points".

The council wanted to widen the existing footpaths and cycle lanes and improve crossings as well as introducing the one-way system.

The council report said: "Proposals have been designed to make Barnfield Road more accessible, attractive and safe for all, supporting a vibrant city centre, and making people feel welcome and relaxed when visiting the city centre via Barnfield Road."

Cyclist Maria Perez-Gonzalez died on Western Way at the Barnfield Road junction in 2021 when she was hit by a driver who had been inhaling laughing gas.

Work to improve the pedestrian and cyclist crossings at the junction would form part of a second phase of works, which could still be considered at a later date.

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