RESIDENTS in Starcross have expressed their frustration at the continued closure of the A379.

The main road through the village has been closed for several months while urgent work is carried out to the Driftwood Pub.

But the work involving a cob wall has been delayed numerous times and the road closure required is causing knock-on effects throughout the village.

The closure has been extended several times and will continue until December 23.

But some residents are now fed up with the situation and are suggesting the brewery which owns the building should be penalised for the continued delays.

One commented: ‘I think you really have to acknowledge this is now dragging out to a point where its becoming somewhat ludicrous.’

Questions are being asked about why the repairs to the cob walls are taking so long.

One resident suggested: ‘Cob can either be replaced with cob - modern tools can spray on quick drying cob.

‘Or cob can be replaced with modern building materials such as breeze blocks.

‘Whatever is used, there would be no difference in the final appearance of the wall, because it will be rendered to look like it was before.

‘Why can't the old structure of The Driftood Inn

be quickly rebuilt?’

The consequences of the road closure are being felt throughout the village.

Police carried out speed checks following complaints about ‘dangerous’ volumes of traffic speeding past the village school.

In total, 37 drivers were found to be exceeding the 20 mph limit on the road past the school.

More than 400 people have signed a petition calling for a pedestrian crossing outside the school.

There are also complaints about HGVs not using the route Devon County Council highways has put forward as an alternative and continue to use the diversion through the residential streets.

One resident pointed out: ‘It’s not as though there are no consequences for the long-winded rebuild: the school has dangerous volumes of traffic going past;

heavy goods vehicles are supposed to take a massive detour around Starcross and speeding traffic makes life difficult for us all.’

There have been complaints the village Spar shop is losing business through a lack of passing trade.

County councillor Alan Connett has been asking questions from highways and the brewery Stonegate.

He says the cob wall repairs were more extensive than initially thought and the contractor had other work already agreed.

He said: ‘I have pressed both Devon County Council and Stonegate, which owns the Driftwood, on the need to complete the work as soon as possible.

‘I have fed back to County Hall the continuing concerns about traffic speed, the damage to roads, the damage to the traffic cones, the need for hedges to be cut back in some places, which would help traffic flow more easily.

‘I have highlighted concerns about the impact on the Spar shop.

'On the A379 itself, I have asked highways to improve signage from the Dawlish side.’

However, he said the ongoing closure had highlighted the importance of a crossing in the village.