Devon publishes final bid to restore the A379 Slapton Line

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Devon County Council has published its full and final bid to the Government’s Structures Fund, seeking support to restore and strengthen the A379 at Slapton.

The bid marks the final stage of the Government’s two-stage funding process. The council is seeking £19.62 million towards a scheme to repair and reopen the road, which was severely damaged by storms earlier this year and remains closed.

The plans would reinstate the collapsed section of road and improve its resilience to future storms.

The A379 is the only A-road link between Dartmouth and Kingsbridge. Its closure has forced lengthy diversions, affected local communities and businesses, and disrupted access to services.

The bid states that around 4,200 residents and 288,000 annual visitors rely on the route. The full bid has been submitted to the Department for Transport and has been published on the council’s website as part of the Government’s requirements for transparency.

Kingsbridge open at last!

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Fore Street in Kingsbridge opened fully to traffic this week after a major engineering operation to install a 45-metre-long culvert beneath the road, an essential piece of infrastructure that carries water under the town centre.

The previous culvert had failed and needed to be completely replaced to prevent the risk of further damage beneath the road. The work presented significant engineering challenges. Teams had to excavate several metres below road level and work around a complex network of utility services beneath Fore Street, often by hand rather than machine.

The project had previously been likened to threading a needle because of the limited space available between existing pipes and cables and even a section that required specialist asbestos removal. The new structure will help protect the road and essential services for years to come, reducing the risk of future failures and improving the resilience of the local highway network.

The project also uncovered pieces of Kingsbridge’s history, with excavation work revealing historic structures linked to the original “King’s Bridge” as well as pottery dating back centuries. These finds were recorded and preserved for future generations.

A new heating system for Stokenham parish hall

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Visitors to the parish hall in Stokenham will know the sensation in cooler weather of having the tops of their heads grow uncomfortably warm under the glowing red heaters positioned high on the walls.

Now over two decades old, the installation has by general agreement reached the end of its life, and work is in hand to replace it with something more suited to the twenty-first century.

Because the hall (and the adjoining kitchen and Wesley Smith conference room) has no existing infrastructure of radiators and pipework, any replacement heating system needs to be self-contained and relatively quick and straighforward to install. This leaves two obvious candidates: an updated ceiling-mounted infra-red panel heater network; and an air-to-air heat pump installation. Both systems have their adherents and detractors among the Parish Hall Committee and to break the deadlock it has been agreed that Stokenham parish council will fund an independent survey to recommend the most appropriate way forward.

Future upgrades include a proposed solar PV and battery installation that will enable load-shifting to off-peak electricty rates, which should significantly reduce the hall’s electricity bill. Watch this space!

Chillington Summer Fair tomorrow – don’t miss it!

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News from the Slapton Line Partnership: an update from the Inland Routes Working Group

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A meeting of the SLP’s Inland Routes Working Group this week heard encouraging news of progress on the extensive programme of improvements to the back roads network while the A379 Slapton Line is out of commission.

Approval has been secured from the Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority Board for Phase 1 of the scheme (sections 3, 5 and 9 on the map), allowing land agents to be commissioned and negotiation for the purchase of land to commence. Essential site ecology work was completed on schedule by the end of June and additional dormice surveys are due to start in September. Detailed design work is progressing on fifty new or improved passing places in the first phase of the scheme, prioritizing connectivity between passing places, so that drivers will always be able to see the next available passing place from the one they have pulled into. Eagle-eyed residents will no doubt have noticed that traffic-counting wires have once again been installed on the main routes south to north to finesse the traffic volume calculations.

Subject to the results of the dormice survey – whose outcome unfortunately cannot be predicted – work will start in November with a view to completing by summer 2027. Survey work for Phase 2 of the scheme, which includes section 1, Port Lane to Sherford Cross, will commence in spring next year.

 

Torcross Seafront Works – Latest Update from the EA

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The Environment Agency team responsible for the works at Torcross has issued a 5 August progress update, which we reprint in full below:

PROJECT UPDATE

This is a short update on key developments since our previous Update (12 June 2026) and the Public Drop-In Event (30 June).

The EA posters from the Drop-In Event remain publicly available on the Slapton Line Partnership website: Community – Slapton Line Partnership

What’s the latest on Consents and Permissions ?

Both the Local Planning Authority (South Hams District Council) and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) responded to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Screening that we had submitted to them in May.

Both organisations have confirmed that a statutory EIA is not needed. This decision has removed a key area of uncertainty and potential delay for the project.

There are two other key consequences from this:

1. 2. The Environment Agency can deliver the project using our statutory powers of permitted development, and we therefore do not need to apply for planning permission.

The primary consent needed is therefore a Marine Licence from the Marine Management Organisation (MMO). We submitted this application along with supporting environmental reports in mid-July, and it is now with the MMO for consideration.

The 13-week consultation period means that we anticipate a response on 16th October. We cannot pre-judge the MMO decision, but we have worked very hard behind the scenes to optimise the chances of the Licence being granted, and to avoid pre-commencement conditions that might delay starting the works.

Assuming the Licence is granted, when are we going to start ?

Our contractor Kier will start mobilising and take possession of the Tank car park from the 7th September, following which it will not be accessible to the public. The public footpath will be maintained around the back of the compound area.

Kier have ordered the main rock from quarries in Norway, Ireland and Scotland and scheduled the first ‘rock drop’ on the beach from the 17th October. The construction of the rock armour will begin from around this date. The main rock will be brought to shore from the barges at high tides and retrieved at low tides. The rock defence will then be built in short sections within the low tide windows starting at the southern end, working along the beach towards the northern end slipway.

We anticipate it will take approximately 4-5 months to complete the main rock armour, so we will be working over the autumn and winter months, with the area around the car park and slipway then being completed in the spring.

Are you able to maintain public access at the south end ?

We are currently looking at ways to maintain public access to the existing defence and sea at the southern end, but constructing a sustainable access route down through the rock armour to the sea is proving to be difficult.

We cannot delay the start of the rock armouring works at the southern end, and therefore potential solutions have to take this into consideration, as well as the limited construction access that will then be possible.

We have taken on board various ideas from the community and appreciate how important access here is, and we are still discussing what can be achieved here with our contractors and designers. We will update the community on this as soon as we are able.

At the northern end, we are still proposing to extend the slipway to improve access at lower beach levels, and we view this as being the primary beach access route in the future. We have also agreed with Devon County Council and South Hams District Council to incorporate the reinstatement of the sheet-piled defences in front of the car park into the project and continue to work closely with them.

Keeping the community updated during construction

Once construction starts we are keen to keep the community updated on a regular basis with the details of imminent activities and overall progress, and also to enable residents to ask questions etc. We are currently working with Kier to develop our construction-stage engagement plans and will share the details in due course.

 

Summer holiday activities available to families eligible for free school meals

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Families of children who are eligible for benefit-related free school meals are reminded that there are still places available on our Holiday Activities and Food programme this summer holiday. A range of fun activities, with meals, are available in more than 170 locations across Devon until 6 September: full details here.

July draft minutes published

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Draft minutes of July’s Full Council meeting are now published and available here.

Ambassador and military top brass attend unveiling ceremony at Start Point

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Visitors to Start Point may notice the recently installed plaque to Alois Vasatko, a Czech airman who flew with the RAF out of Exeter and was lost over Start Bay on 23rd June 1942. The unveiling ceremony, held on the 84th anniversary of his death, was attended by the Czech ambassador, attaches from the Ministry of Defence, local dignitaries, and Councillor Tim Lynn, who presented a bench to the community on behalf of Stokenham Parish Council.

 

Government confirms four unitary model for local government reorganisation in Devon

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Map of Devon showing new boundary areas of the expanded Exeter, Plymouth and Torbay councils

Map of Devon showing new boundary areas of the expanded Exeter, Plymouth and Torbay councils

The Government has announced its decision on the future structure of local government in Devon, confirming that four unitary authorities will be created by local government reorganisation for the county. 

The option selected, proposed by Plymouth and Exeter City councils, will create four new unitary councils for Devon as you can see on the map above. Read Plymouth City and Exeter City councils Joint Submission on Local Government Reorganisation in Devon.

The decision follows the submission of proposals by councils across Devon in 2025 and a subsequent public consultation undertaken by Government earlier this year. Devon County Council, alongside other authorities, submitted business cases setting out alternative options for the future delivery of local government services.

The decision forms part of a wider programme to replace the current two-tier system of county and district councils with unitary authorities.

Local government reorganisation is intended to create councils that are responsible for the full range of local government services within their areas, replacing existing arrangements where responsibilities are shared between county and district councils.

The Government’s announcement marks the next stage in the reorganisation process. Work will now continue nationally and locally to develop detailed implementation plans, and the arrangements required to establish the new authorities. Devon County Council will work with partners, stakeholders and government to support the transition process.

Key milestones in the programme are expected to include the development of detailed transition arrangements, the introduction of the necessary legislative changes, elections to new authorities in 2027 and implementation of the new arrangements ahead of vesting day in 2028.

There are no immediate changes to the delivery of council services. Services will continue to operate as normal while further work is undertaken to plan and implement the new structures. Similar messaging has previously been provided to staff through local government reorganisation updates, which stated that no immediate changes to services, roles or structures would take place while decisions and future arrangements were being considered.

Further information about implementation arrangements and future governance structures is expected to be provided as the programme progresses. Devon County Council will continue to keep residents, staff, elected members and stakeholders informed as more details become available.

The Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution’s statement on Local Government Reorganisation in Devon can be read here.