RESIDENTS of Camelford who have, for many years, dreamt of a distributor road to help alleviate the traffic problems in the town had their hopes dashed at the recent town council meeting, after they were told there simply is no funding available for such a scheme.

Mr Graeme Hicks, Cornwall Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, attended the meeting, on Tuesday, June 15, to give the council's view about the bypass.

Addressing the council and quite a few members of the public who also attended the meeting, Mr Hicks said: "We, as a Highways Authority, are very sympathetic to the needs of people in Camelford. You will all be aware of the economic climate in the country. The government has already frozen regional transport programmes and have told us not to develop any more, even schemes already in the programme.

"We are in a tremendously difficult position."

He handed over to Peter Swain, Cornwall Council Major Highways Projects Manager, who explained that he had been involved with proposals for a Camelford bypass since 2006.

He went over the background of the scheme from when it was first put forward and achieved provisional acceptance by the government.

Lots of public meetings were held and there was a split in the town over where the route should be. Eventually, Cornwall County Council made a decision on the route and applied for planning permission. This was approved five years ago.

The planning permission had a five year life span, and is about to expire. Over those five years, the methodology and other factors have changed.

Mr Swain explained that Camelford was among a number of schemes included in the programme, and was also in competition with other proposals, such as the Dobwalls bypass.

In choosing the schemes to carry forward, the council decided that Camelford was not of sufficient regional importance in 2006, and announced that its plans did not include Camelford up to 2016.

The council then had to choose whether or not to keep the Camelford scheme on their books, and decided to keep the planning permission 'live.'

In the meantime, they have concentrated on a number of other highways schemes including those at Truro and Camborne.

In recent weeks, the council has received information from the government advising them not to take forward any more schemes for the moment, as they have a requirement to cut their budget.

Mr Swain said: "Where does that leave Camelford?"

"There's no easy way to say to you, but the scheme lost its place in 2006 and now our priority schemes will be threatened. My advice to Camelford is there's very little chance of any distributor road in Camelford being funded in the foreseeable future. That's the blunt truth."

He said the next step was to decide whether to abandon the scheme completely or seek to renew the planning permission. Abandoning the scheme would cost nothing, whereas applying to renew the permission would incur some cost.

He also said they could keep the scheme as a council approved project but knowing that we haven't got any likelihood of it being developed in the medium term.

Mr Swain said he has to report back to Mr Hicks on the three options, after listening to what the council and members of the public have to say at the meeting, and then a decision will be made.

"There's no good news for you as far as I can see on the horizon with the government cuts."

For the full report see this week's 'Post'.