Dr Alexander Matthews, of Towns Lane, Loddiswell, writes:

The other day, I found all four routes between Kingsbridge and Ivybridge blocked by road works.

The only way through was by going along a back road from Loddiswell down to Aveton Gifford and then through Modbury, where there were stop lights for road works. Rarely do I venture out without seeing two or three roads en route blocked or about to be blocked for repairs.

This causes motorists distress, irritation and inconvenience on a third-world scale. Kingsbridge Fore Street has been blocked off for weeks.

Ominously, just this morning, three men in boiler suits were talking about digging up the road outside our house.

Are all these road works necessary?

From brief calculations, a country like France, for example, has one set of road works every 700 miles. Here, we have five sets of road works in a 20-mile radius. This makes local car journeys very difficult.

I cannot believe that all of these road works are that necessary.

Could you enlighten me?