Sue Holmes, August 24, asks “who can produce a better traffic model for Totnes High Street that reconciles the different needs of trade and personal security?”

It’s a question which merits prompt attention because the economic well-being of our town is declining rapidly as a result of the reduction in footfall which has been taking place ever since 1974.

SHDC was created in 1974 to work in partnership with DCC, providing our local government services.

During the last 44 years UK road traffic levels have more than doubled, the population of Totnes has increased from circa 6,000 to a figure which will soon be circa 9,000, but “off road” and “on road” council-controlled parking places in our town are fewer now than in 1974.

This means that both DCC and SHDC are arguably in breach of Section 122 of the Road Traffic Regulations Act 1984, which states: “It shall be the duty of local authorities to secure the expeditious, convenient and safe movement of vehicular traffic (including pedestrians) and the provision of suitable and adequate parking facilities on and off the highway”.

It was another part of Section 122 which resulted in DCC losing both the High Court hearing, and their subsequent appeal, which ruled their catastrophic 2012 Totnes Traffic Reversal scheme to be illegal.

In 2006, Parsons Brincker­hoff, traffic consultants engaged by DCC Highways Dept to determine the feasibility of introducing a Residents Parking Scheme (RPS) in Totnes, reported that such a scheme should not be considered before making major increases in both parking places and public transport.

This report only became public knowledge after DCC Highways started the Totnes RPS in April 2010, and over­night footfall in the town plummeted and has continued to fall ever since.

Totnes traffic problems can be largely overcome as follows. We currently have less than 500 public parking spaces west of the river Dart, and we really need to increase that figure to 2,500 to ensure that the town functions properly.

We also need a lot more Bob the Buses, the number depending on whether park and ride is used as part of the solution.

We need Totnes and district to divorce itself from SHDC and DCC by asking the Prime Minister to make us part of Torbay Council, which is a unitary authority working in accordance with relevant traffic legislation, believes in planning, and is prepared to invest in making its patch of Britain a better place to live in.

Ross Newton

Ashprington, Totnes