A £2.55million budget has been agreed to revamp an ‘inadequate’ road past Exeter Airport – so a major new business park boasting 1,000 jobs can be built.

East Devon District Council’s (EDDC) cabinet agreed the move on Wednesday – just hours before the collapse of Flybe was announced.

Oops! A spectacular piece of mis-timing by Ingham’s regime (a few hours is a long time in politics). Never mind, the Council Tax payers are always the funders of last resort.

About Author Daniel Clark  eastdevonnews.co.uk 

A £2.55million budget has been agreed to revamp an ‘inadequate’ road past Exeter Airport – so a major new business park boasting 1,000 jobs can be built. 

East Devon District Council’s (EDDC) cabinet agreed the move on Wednesday – just hours before the collapse of Flybe was announced.

The scheme will see ‘unfit-for-purpose’ Long Lane – which links the airport and the Hampton by Hilton hotel – widened and improved.

This will enable plans for a new ‘Airpark’, one of the four planned ‘Enterprise Zones’, to progress.

Questions were raised over the uncertainty surrounding Flybe during the cabinet meeting, but members signed-off the budget. The airline went into administration early on Thursday.

EDDC deputy chief executive Richard Cohen said the Long Lane project was not an investment in Flybe or Exeter Airport.

He added that the scheme would put infrastructure in place to allow the Airpark to be developed – creating new jobs and helping the economy.

Work on the East Devon and Exeter employment hub could begin early next year.

Long Lane’s improvements includes a T-junction at the airport’s Car Park One. The carriageway between this site and the Hampton by Hilton hotel will be widened to 6.5m, allowing for a footway.

While this work takes place, a new road connecting Silverdown Office Park and the Flybe Academy site access road – known as the ‘Silverdown Link’ – will be created.

This will become a permanent bus- and cycle-only link when the Long Lane improvements are finished.

Public cash from the Enterprise Zone programme will fund the scheme.

The Long Lane initiative had initially been approved by EDDC last summer, but the authority had to revisit the budget as tenders for the work revealed another £950,000 was needed.

Project director Andy Wood told councillors: “This road scheme will unlock the delivery of new jobs in the district and the Silverdown Link will be retained as a bus and cycleway, so will facilitate the expansion of the bus service that serves the airport terminal.”

But Mr Wood said that the threat of Flybe’s collapse ‘reinforced the need to press ahead’ with the project, adding: “The Airpark site cannot come forward until the road is improved and that will bring 1,000 jobs and new businesses that are not related to Flybe or the airport at all.

“A lot of the current trade for the hotel relies on Flybe, so having better access will help them recover if the worst happens. No development can happen at the site until the road is widened.”

Councillor Paul Hayward had questioned whether a decision should be deferred in light of Flybe’s problems.

He added: “To consider a £2.5million budget with all the uncertainty is ludicrous.

“It should be deferred so we know what will happen and if Flybe can survive.

“How can you consider the £2.5m investment in a road that may be a road to nowhere?”

Cllr Geoff Jung said: “This is investing in the new road to open up an industrial area for 1,000 jobs, so maybe now is the time to invest in the area to provide further jobs or replacement jobs.

“We should send out a message that the area and the airport has our full backing.”

Cllr Kevin Blakey, portfolio holder for the economy, said ‘Flybe is not the Airport’, adding: “If there is a chance to allow the airport to evolve its operations, then now is when we should be investing and getting the groundworks done so development can take place.

“We should press on and get the roads built as soon as possible.

“The airport will evolve and we have to be ready for it.”

A report to cabinet members said: “The works will help to create a public transport loop and cycleway which will serve a major employment area.

It added of Long Lane’s current state: “When travelling in an easterly direction, the lane quickly narrows to below the standard (6.5m) needed to accommodate the two-way flow of HGV traffic.

“This includes substantial stretches of single carriageway. The inadequate nature of the current highway is a major barrier to bringing forward the Airpark Enterprise Zone site.

“The enhancement of Long Lane is an important project which, in addition to unlocking the Airpark Enterprise Zone site, will also bring a series of wider benefits including improved public transport provision.

“The works are now in a position where they can progress imminently and be complete early in 2021.”