The On-Off Saga of Major Roadworks in Chillington

The chaotic scenes in Chillington earlier this week, with queues of traffic stretching on occasion as far back as Carehouse Cross in one direction and Coombe Meadows in the other, seem to have been caused by poorly positioned and badly timed traffic lights controlling the roadworks – roadworks that popped up overnight without any of the usual notifications, the haste justified on the grounds that they constituted “emergency repairs” to the electricity supply.

Parish Councillors might have seen this as a foretaste of things to come. For just last week we were treated to a presentation from National Grid, designed to break the bad news to the community that a seven-week closure of the A379 through Chillington was planned for the new year, starting mid-January.

While the proposed works – involving the installation of an upgraded 3-phase electricity supply through the length of the village that would future-proof residents against the demands of heat pumps and EV chargers – seemed entirely sensible and prudent, the disruption involved would be extensive and burdensome. It was clear that the entire operation, including arrangements for access to properties, alternative parking and bus-route liaison, would need to be planned with military precision to avoid exactly the sorts of snarl-ups and gridlock that were witnessed in the village in the past few days. To give them due credit, the folks from National Grid promised that they would liaise closely with Parish Council and neighbourhood groups, both to share information and keep disruption to a minimum.

Still, it was with some relief that we learned midweek that the proposed works will NOT now be going ahead next year after all, Devon County Council having put the kibosh on the plan due to the length of closure. The work still needs doing, however, and at the time of writing it is envisaged that it will occur in January 2027. This sounds like a highly dubious claim, so watch this space for further developments.