Work on repairing and realigning the A379 Slapton Line, is expected to start soon.

The A379 at between Slapton and Strete Gate is expected to reopen in “late autumn 2018”, with the proposed realignment of the road being taken to Devon County Council’s executive meeting on Wednesday, May 16.

Around a hundred local residents, Dr Sarah Wollaston MP and Cllr Julian Brazil packed themselves into Slapton Village Hall on Thursday, May 3, to hear the latest updates on the Slapton Line.

Peter Chamberlain, environment manager at Devon County Council, told the meeting that the original plan was to realign the road in accordance with a 2007 planning application, but a “more detailed examination” discovered that the road would be “too fragile”.

The team then “changed tack” and plan to extend the realignment by 120m, while moving slightly inland, to “provide more resiliency”. This will require new planning permission, which the team are putting together at the moment.

So far, vegetation has been cleared before the birds started nesting, the area has been surveyed and checked for unexploded ordinance, a “detailed design is being progressed” and landowner agreement is being obtained.

As far as the northern section is concerned, they are working on a planning application and accompanying environmental impact statement is being prepared. Over the northern and southern sections, a design is going to Devon County Council’s cabinet on May 16, they are completing the design, and need to procure a contractor and mobilise and commence construction.

They also need to deal with the current damaged road, remove sections of tarmac from the beach and anything that needs to be removed is reintegrated with Slapton Nature Reserve.

Currently, work can start on the southern section, because that already has planning permission, and meanwhile, Peter and his team are looking to secure planning permission for the northern section.

Talking about the future of the Slapton Line, Peter said: “We can reinstate the road with more resilience, but we can’t change the situation, the road runs along a very vulnerable and fragile coastal area. We can’t say how long it will last but it should be robust for the next couple of years.”

He said they were also looking at other options, including upgrading sections of the original sea wall at Torcross, considering improvements to the minor road network to improve transport when the road is closed or gone forever.

People spoke at the meeting, with one saying that local businesses were struggling, elderly people who lived in Strete Gate but are registered with the doctors in Chillington were finding it difficult and visitors with sat navs “will shortly cause chaos”, and asked if the back roads could be upgraded or a temporary road with a 10mph limit could be used.

Another said a temporary road was set up in 2001 when the road was damaged and could this be done again. Peter explained that this time there was no space between the road and the edge of the beach, meaning there was nowhere to put a temporary road this time and “it will actually be quicker to realign the road in full”.

He said they were looking to relieve the worst problems in the back lanes by looking for landowners to offer land for passing spaces and junction improvements.

Daniel Field, senior specialist in engineering at South Hams District Council, explained the proposed beach management plan. He explained the long list of options, which were boiled down to a short list.

The current proposed solution includes seawall improvements - maintain and where possible improve the existing seawall and the adjacent defences, Rock Revetment Repairs - recovery and re-profiling of the existing rock armour, in conjunction with seawall improvement, to increase protection against

erosion and overtopping.

Beach Recycling - could still be implemented to bolster areas where beach levels are low. Option would require further modelling work to increase certainty and be considered in conjunction with beach control structures.

Emergency Reactive Realignment - undertaking of emergency works to the A379 as and when they are needed.

Daniel said: “The draft Beach Management Plan now needs to include any relevant feedback and be formally agreed and signed off by the Slapton Line Partnership. This will then allow the business case for funding to be developed and submitted to the Environment Agency for approval.

“In light of Storm Emma, which caused significant damage to the A379 and a number of other assets, the BMP will need to be updated. This will continue to ensure that we have the strongest business case for moving forward.”

If you would like to comment on the plans, email: [email protected] or call: 07891 927128.