Ottery St Mary Friends of Phyllis Baxter Action Grou writes for the Herald.

Phyllis Baxter was an eternal friend of Ottery S Mary, loving everything about the town - its people, places, streets and quaint back alleys and byways.

If something was going on, Phyllis would be there, with her camera... and if it wasn't, she would often set about helping it to happen.

Part of this affection was built on the town's interesting and sometimes intriguing history, traceable back over five hundred years. Phyllis knew, of course, that the town's sometimes quirky but always delightful character developed during times when travel was on foot or horseback, goods moved on nothing larger than a horse and cart, and public transport was usually by mail coach-and-four.

Though Phyllis is no longer here to see it, that lovable legacy has bequeathed an ever-growing problem - the town centre just cannot accommodate ever-increasing amounts of motor traffic.

Ottery is far from the only town to recognise that growth in vehicle size and numbers in recent years means traffic has begun to dominate the town's quaint - and once quiet - streets, pushing pedestrians into second place.

Public consultations for the Neighbourhood Plan revealed that traffic size and volume - and parking issues - were worrying lots of people locally.

An independent study also noted that traffic was creating difficulties for cyclists and pedestrians, and restricting opportunities to develop public spaces for open-air socialising.

It suggested measures delivering greater pedestrian priority, reducing car dominance, carving out more public spaces, giving greater prominence to the town's heritage, and enhancing the quality of the streetscape and "public realm".

Knowing her passion for the town, Phyllis would surely have supported all such moves.

The Neighbourhood Plan provided a rare opportunity to begin moving the town into today's more enlightened age, opening up its future prospects through regeneration.

The plan's expert advice indicated that reducing the physical and environmental impact of motor vehicles was a key to this, so, in March 2018, a sub group was established, briefed to evaluate local traffic, safety and parking issues in line with Neighbourhood Plan Projects 10 and 11.

It combined strong local business representation with the experience of several prominent, longstanding residents.

The group built a collaborative relationship with key Council officers, and developed their report around responses from an extensive local public and business survey, including students at King’s School and OSM Primary School, combined with data and views from many external consultees.

The report and recommendations were accepted by Ottery Town Council in March 2019.

We got in touch with Dave Moss, who has spent many years as a Freelance writer and researcher on transport topics - and, as the report's introduction said: “carried the burden of the report and its associated Survey”

He told us of his disappointment that work to improve the towns traffic situation seemed to have stalled.

"We all appreciated that regeneration demands lots of forward planning, and takes time," he said,

"But we recommended continuing our dialogue with county and district councils to develop exciting possibilities, together with a substantive traffic survey, researching amounts and types of traffic passing through the town, and its destination. Reliable evidence from such research-based data is vital in developing a regeneration vision and to inform forward planning

Mr. Moss pointed also to the report's public survey suggestions.: "More cycle parking, electric vehicle charge-points, completing the set of Zebra crossings around Broad Street Square - and a new one near McColl's store - more concerted enforcement of pavement and yellow line parking offences, in town and near the primary school, repainting badly faded road markings, reducing signage clutter and more.

"All were suggested to start making Ottery a more pleasant place, but none seem to be happening.".

On the wider picture, Mr Moss continued: "Businesses in Ottery grew up around motor vehicles.

"For instance, who now remembers the daily coach trips operated by Downs Motors from Mill Street - or when Lovells garage was established in the town, with its Broad Street shop? Vehicles brought customers to a thriving town centre, which included many now forgotten inns and shops - in the central area and beyond."