MEMBERS of the Holsworthy Biogas Protest Group have launched a campaign calling for a bypass for the town.

The Protest Group have contacted Torridge District Council and Geoffrey Cox, MP for Torridge and West Devon regarding their idea for a bypass which they believe will make the town a much nicer and safer place to live.

The group said: "Traffic often comes to a standstill on Waterloo Hill, this can give rise to major congestion affecting all routes serving the north, south, east and west of Holsworthy.

"As is typical in the United Kingdom, the town of Holsworthy has simply evolved through the years resulting in a road network which is totally inadequate to handle today's traffic.

"A recent example of this evolution being the planning application to construct a digestate transfer tank at Ashmill, Ashwater for the biogas plant. If constructed the tank would hold some 3,535,714 litres and it would therefore take 236 thirty ton (30,000 litre) HGV tanker lorry movements to fill it. All of this traffic will be committed to use the North Road and Waterloo Hill route.

"However, there are several other local businesses who put even more HGV traffic through this residential area, whilst a large proportion of lorries using Waterloo Hill are not local, merely passing through from Bude, Bideford or Barnstaple.

"Members of the Holsworthy Biogas Protest Group are proposing a bypass to benefit the communities of both Hols­worthy and Holsworthy Beacon. Yes we need local business so let's have the right infrastructure in place to support it, especially in view of the coming recession. The public debate starts here, start lobbying your local politicians."