A large number of people have complained to me about the speed of the traffic along Broad Street late at night and early in the morning, and the noise and vibration that results – particularly from the larger vehicles.

One solution would be to implement a 20mph limit in the whole of the town centre – and ensure that is enforced. That would take a long time to implement and the county council would doubtless say they haven’t got enough money to do it (couldn’t the Town Council  help out here?). There might be a quicker solution.

Whilst browsing the Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) on the county council website I came across one* which states that there is a maximum weight limit in operation along Broad Street. In the part of the TRO which lists roads where heavy commercial vehicles# are not permitted it says this:

“Broad Street – from a point approximately 100 metres east of its junction with Church Street to its junction with New Road”.

That’s more-or-less from the beginning of the Enhancement (near the sorting office) to New Road. Perhaps the police could enforce the existing regulations?

* The County of Devon (Various Streets, South Molton) (Traffic Regulation) (No 2) Order 1993

# “Heavy commercial vehicle” means any goods vehicle which has an operating weight exceeding 7.5 tonnes