Exmouth 'missing link' finally on the way

Dinan Way to be completed after 40 years

More than 40 years of broken promises and idle whispers could be coming to an end after the government pledged nearly £16 million for infrastructure improvements in Exmouth.

Dinan Way, a road constructed in the 1970s to link a new housing development in the East Devon town to the Exmouth to Budleigh Salterton, famously went nowhere in the other direction. Over the years, as housing grew in the area, the road lengthened, but never achieved its original promise of linking to the A376 Exeter to Exmouth main road.

Now, following an application supported by East Devon’s MP Simon Jupp and submitted by Devon County Council, Exmouth is getting cash from the government’s Levelling Up Fund. It will go towards completing Dinan Way as well as some improvements in the town centre. East Devon District Council and Exmouth Town Council were involved in the big.

The area around Exmouth train station will be improved,  including pedestrian access to the town centre, the infilling of an underpass, and better connectivity for cyclists joining the Exe Estuary trail.

It's been a long time coming. Plans in the eighties and nineties about Dinan Way generated hot air and vague suggestions that one day, sometime, the road would be completed, but not much else.

Another burst of excitement in the mid-2010s did come to something; Devon County Council granted planning permission in 2017. East Devon District Council promised to stump up £2 million in 2019, paid for from contributions from developers.

Devon County Council came back for another publicity bite in 2020, approving the road (again) in its transport infrastructure plan - again with money coming from developers, and saying the scheme would cost £8.4 million to link Dinan Way with the junction of the A376 at Lympstone by the Saddlers Arms. 

That route was one of those suggested in 1988. It stalled after protests from a number of homeowners along the largely rural route, some of whose properties would be compulsorily purchased to make way for the road.

Simon Jupp MP said; “This is excellent news for Exmouth and I’m really looking forward to seeing spades in the ground as quickly as possible. This new multi-million-pound investment will improve journeys in Exmouth, improve air quality, and help spruce up the area around the train station. I would like to thank the councils who worked together to develop the plans and the Conservative government who backed our bid.

"The news comes after exciting plans to deliver a new state-of-the-art police station in Exmouth were confirmed last year. I will continue to do what I can to help make East Devon an even better place to live, work, and visit.”

Councillor Andrea Davis, Devon County Council’s cabinet member for climate change, environment and transport, said: “This is brilliant news for the people of Exmouth and a boost to the town’s regeneration. It will not only enable Devon County Council to complete the Dinan Way link road which will reduce traffic going through the centre, but also fund improved walking and cycling routes, and bus services to Exeter."