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Summer 2025
On behalf of Councillor Dan Thomas (Cabinet Member for Highways) and Meg Booth (Director of Climate Change, Environment & Transport) we are pleased to share the summer edition of our Roadmap newsletter.
This edition features roadside grass cutting, road maintenance schemes, mobile traffic enforcement, and proposed changes to the way local services are delivered across Devon.
If you have suggestions for topics that are important to your community which you'd like us to feature please let us know.
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Devon Highways roadside grass cutting
In the interest of safety for all road users, Devon Highways has begun its seasonal trimming of roadside grass. The purpose is to maintain visibility at junctions, inside of bends and laybys and to provide forward visibility to signs. We aim to balance the needs of keeping the highway safe with being sensitive to local ecology and wildlife.
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Cuts generally take place between May and early October, depending on the seasonal growing conditions. The routes which experience higher volumes of traffic are cut first and receive two cuts each season. The county’s minor category roads will be cut once during the summer season.
Vegetation on rural high-speed roads will be typically cut at night when traffic is lighter using mobile works.
Due to the slow-moving machinery required for quality trimming, minor delays may occur. We appreciate the publics patience and understanding.
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For further updates or to report visibility concerns, please contact Devon Highways.
Mobile traffic enforcement
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New cameras will come online this summer to monitor and enforce the use of the bus gate on Wonford Road in Exeter.
It’s the first of eight sites across Devon which, over the coming months, will have new cameras put into place.
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Since 2020 a restriction has been in place to allow priority on this route to buses and cycles, with a further exemption being introduced more recently for taxis.
Now CCTV cameras will enforce this, and it follows new powers devolved to Devon County Council (DCC) from the Department of Transport.
DCC is one of a number of local authorities in England that has received the power to enforce Moving Traffic Offences (MTOs). Previously enforcement could only be carried out by the police.
These powers allow us to improve road safety, support active travel and public transport by addressing issues caused by drivers that contravene the rules of the road. This includes driving through a no entry sign, making banned turns, entering a yellow box junction when the exit isn’t clear and driving on routes that are for buses and taxis only.
There are eight sites on Devon’s Highways, including Wonford Road, that have been identified where enforcement should be conducted.
These are:
- Bus Gate, Old Torrington Road, Sticklepath, Barnstaple
- No Right Turn, The Square, Barnstaple
- Bus Gate, Taw Vale, Barnstaple
- Bus Gate, Wonford Road, Exeter
- Bus Lane, Topsham Road, Exeter
- Bus Lane, Fore Street Heavitree, Exeter
- Bus Lane, Cowick Street, Exeter
- One Way, Iron Bridge, Exeter
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The cameras will all enforce areas where restrictions have been in place for some time.
During the first six months after each site comes online motorists caught contravening the rules at any one of the locations will be sent a warning letter for their first offence.
If they are caught again, they will receive a penalty charge notice (PCN). After the initial six months, all offenders will be subject to a PCN.
Funds generated from penalty charge notices will be ringfenced to fund the enforcement cameras and any surplus is restricted for highway or road improvement projects, public transport provision and other environmental projects.
Councillor Dan Thomas, Devon County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highway Management, said:
“These aren’t new restrictions; these cameras will help us enforce particular areas where existing restrictions are frequently ignored.
“For example, over five days we counted more than 1000 motorists using the Wonford Road bus gate despite the ‘No Entry except buses and cycles’ sign.
“Ignoring restrictions or signs could cause an accident but we accept that it will take people some time to get used to the cameras. That’s why for the six months drivers will be warned rather than receive a ticket.”
The scheme follows a public consultation which was held from 14 August until 25 September 2023 and cabinet approval.
You can now view a comprehensive list of highway maintenance work planned for our roads this financial year.
We’ve published the information on our website, in line with Department for Transport (DfT) guidelines for local highway authorities to show local taxpayers how highways funding is being used in their area.
Our webpages include information on more than 1,420 schemes in the capital highway maintenance programme – covering everything from resurfacing, patching, surface dressing, drainage improvements, and road marking.
Preventative treatments will cover around 260 miles (420km) of the highway network and covers work such as surface dressing and footway “slurry seal” (a top surface material for pavements).
Councillor Dan Thomas, Devon County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highway Management, said:
“This document provides people with information on all of the planned maintenance on Devon’s highway network, and hopefully it also gives people a better understanding of the planning that goes into maintaining our roads. It’s an unenviable task as unfortunately, due to decades of underfunding from central government, we simply don’t receive enough money and therefore repairs have to be prioritised.
“Our highways teams do much more than just fill potholes – they’re carrying out preventative maintenance before potholes can form in the first place. We will continue our efforts to find innovative solutions, through new materials, more efficient machinery, and trialling different ways of working to get the best value from every pound spent.”
Devon’s 8,000-mile road network is the biggest of any authority in the country and is the equivalent length of covering a third of the circumference of the world.
Devon’s 8,000-mile road network is the biggest of any authority in the country and is the equivalent length of covering a third of the circumference of the world.
The County Council’s highway maintenance strategy recognises that it’s not possible to maintain every road to the same standard, due to limited budgets and resources.
The Council will continue to prioritise available funding for A and B roads, which are the busiest parts of the network and carry around 80% of traffic in the county. The remaining budget is spread across Devon’s lengthy road network of C roads and unclassified roads.
Investment is also being made in preventative maintenance, such as surface dressing, to manage and extend the lifespan of roads. However, nearly 59,000 potholes were fixed last year and it’s expected that a similar number will be repaired this financial year.
A full list of the planned highway maintenance programme can be found on our website.
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The government wants to abolish two-tier local authorities, where responsibilities are split between county councils, district, city and borough councils, and to replace them with single unitary authorities, bringing all services under one roof.
Read more about the proposed changes below and complete our survey to have your say on our future.
 What’s changing?
There are several tiers of councils in Devon, and the structure changes depending on where you live.
Currently, Devon County Council handles services like education, transport, and social care, while district, city and borough councils manage housing, planning, and waste collection.
Under the proposed reorganisation, a single unitary authority would take on all these responsibilities for a specific area. It means that the number of councils in Devon will be reduced, with district councils and Devon County Council ceasing to exist and unitary authorities, which combine services, formed.
You can find out more on our website.
Check your Signing, Lighting and Guarding qualification is up to date
To enable volunteers to work safely we fund Signing, Lighting and Guarding training (a module of Chapter 8 training) for up to three candidates per town or parish council. This training is valid for five years.
We are asking all volunteers who have completed this training to check when it expires and to let us know by email at communityselfhelp@devon.gov.uk if they need refresher training.
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Snow Wardens
Thank you to all the volunteer Snow Wardens who supported their communities during the winter.
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Our winter service ended in April. It was milder winter than inprevious few years; the coldest road surface temperature was -4.8°C at Rundlestone on Dartmoor on 02 January.
The period in which winter service treatments were carried out was also much shorter than average. The weather was dryer with less precipitation and lower humidity than normal, and Devon County Council had fewer incidences of ice and hoar frost to treat. Our principle contractors salted 124,151 kms of the road network and used 7,712.3 tonnes of salt to do this
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We are now taking the opportunity to service and recalibrate our vehicles and equipment. You may also see our modified cycleway gritter out and about tackling overgrown vegetation.
In the 2024-2025 financial year we awarded in excess of £30,000 Highway Maintenance Community Enhancement (HMCE) funding to support 30 communities.
We are now receiving applications for Highway Maintenance Community Enhancement funding for the current financial year. You can apply using our online form. Applications are now reviewed as they are received so please apply early to avoid disappointment.
Please not that the fund supports volunteer activities and funding towards contractors will not be considered.
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