Devon road repairs to start after end date Published duration 28 January 2016

image caption Devon County Council has admitted the problems mean a delay for about 6,000 drivers on the road every day

Thousands of drivers face more traffic headaches on a Devon main road because repairs planned to end in March will not start until April.

Traffic lights were placed on the A379 near Yealmpton in March 2015 after the road started subsiding.

Repairs were due to be finished by 31 March this year, said Devon County Council.

The authority has admitted the problems mean a delay for about 6,000 drivers on the road every day.

The A379 was turned into a single carriageway for about 200m with traffic lights last year after highways chiefs were alerted to subsidence.

Yealmpton parish council clerk Mike Stickland said: "We are fed up with it being closed for so long, it's a major tourist road and the local area's businesses rely on it."

South Hams district councillor Richard Hosking asked the county council to classify the roadworks as an emergency but his request was rejected.

"I've been assured it is being treated as a priority," he said.

A county council spokesman said: "Public safety is our prime concern, and one lane of this section of the road is closed, with temporary lights, because the road is subsiding and is not safe.

"It doesn't normally take this long to design a structural repair scheme but the investigation work was seriously hampered by the location of a gas main under the road.

"A further complication arose following preparatory vegetation clearance which identified the need for a risk assessment to determine if a safety barrier was now required.

"That assessment took place last week and the outcome is a significant length of barrier is required to safeguard the highway user from what is a significant drop.