Major disruption after storms destroy key South Devon road

Residents and business owners look set to face a huge hike in driving distances and times after sections of the Slapton Line have been entirely wiped out.

On one section of the road, the entire width has been washed away by powerful storms, meaning any prospective repair will be costly and probably long-winded.

In 2001, when a section of the road washed away, it took around a year before a fresh section of highway was completed, some 20 metres in land compared to where it had previously been.

But moving the road in land where the significant damage has occurred this time is far more controversial, and potentially even impossible.

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While a decision about the road’s future is discussed, though, residents and business owners face a nightmare diversion, with even the notional ‘main roads’ between Torcross and Kingsbridge getting routinely snarled up at pinch points where the highway narrows, sometimes to single file traffic.

Using Google Maps, the usual distance from Torcross to Dartmouth – driving along Slapton Line – would be approximately 8 miles and take a little over 15 minutes or so. Actual driving times across Slapton Line are now not available on Google Maps because of the road closure.

But using a route that cuts through rural lanes, that journey distance doubles to around 17.3 miles or 40 minutes, and even on main routes – taking the A379 back into Kingsbridge and then the A381 towards Halwell and then onto Dartmouth – would be closer to 22 miles and just over 50 minutes.

But those journey times neglect the likelihood that traffic on those routes could be far worse, with all drivers forced to find ways from one side of the Line to the other via different routes.

The area’s MP, Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat, South Devon) said back lanes were “inadequate to cope with the volume of traffic using the A379”.

“Those lanes aren’t meant for extra traffic, and some of them have become flooded recently making it even more inadequate,” Ms Voaden said.

“If those back lanes are going to be used on a daily basis by commuters, then they will need upgrading with more passing places and junctions made safer.”

Ms Voaden noted that some adaptation planning had been going on within the Slapton Line Partnership, a group that was focusing on potential solutions should the A379 be damaged and closed again.

“The Partnership had stalled but we had got conversations going again about resilience and adaptation, but we were still sadly in the early days of it and had not progressed to work on the ground,” she added.

Ms Voaden noted that Devon County Council had conducted some improvement work on some of the rural lane network near Torcross, but that more needed to be done.

“Some thought needs to be given to whart that road network looks like and if it can be improved,” she said.

“There are lots of land owners, farms, and isolated properties there, so it would be quite difficult to do something joined up.”

Devon County Council said it had been working on a plan with South Hams District Council to “try and divert traffic through the [Sherman tank] car park as an interim measure to get the A379 up and running again”.

“However, the extentr of the damage overnight is a major setback and that option is no longer possible,” the council added.