Public to get a say on controversial Exeter road closure

People in Exeter will get a chance to have their say on a controversial road closure which supporters maintain has boosted safety but objectors say has increased congestion and pollution.

Dryden Road has been closed to vehicles since the Covid outbreak in 2020, having been shut off in an effort to create a safe traffic-free route into the city.
However, opponents of the closure say it has moved traffic to other roads around the neighbourhood. They are demanding it should be opened again, and hundreds of people have signed a petition.
At a recent meeting of the Exeter highways and traffic orders committee (HATOC), Alderman Olwen Foggin, a former Lord Mayor of Exeter, said the closure had sent traffic on to diversion routes which were too narrow to cope and the ‘chaos’ should have been considered before the road was blocked.
She said it was a ‘social injustice’ that traffic problems were being shifted into more densely populated areas.
And Cllr Angela Nash (Independent, Wonford and St Loyes) said at the meeting: “A very few middle-class homes get the benefit and the pollution is being spread to other areas. The residents have had enough, and this needs to be addressed.”
The Dryden Road closure will be considered again by the same committee when it meets next week (October 9), with a recommendation for a two-month public consultation early in 2026.
A report says public concerns and petitions mean more consultation is needed. The recent controversy over low traffic neighbourhoods in the city included criticism over the way the public was involved, and the report on Dryden Road says: “Previous experience supports the need for proper consultation.”
Traffic flows have been analysed since the previous meeting of the HATOC, showing a major decrease in Dryden Road and a small increase on Bovemoors Lane.
Cyclists say the Dryden Road closure has made journeys safer. The Exeter Cycling Campaign said on social media: “If councillors vote to make Dryden Road unsafe then the whole network from Pyne’s Hill to the city centre will be broken.”
The group says the city would lose out on cleaner air and reduced congestion, along with cheap and easy travel for all to the hospital, schools and shops. It would also, they say, mean the waste of more than £1million of public money spent on closing the road.
The group also says there were four collisions on Dryden Road involving people on bikes during the five years prior to 2020.  In five years since the filter was installed in 2020, there has been just one collision, despite cycling journeys increasing by 160 per cent at the Bovemoors Lane roundabout. 
However, supporters of the campaign to re-open the road say a ‘landslide’ of public opinion backs them. A spokesman said: “Given such a definitive public mandate, how on earth can this road remain closed?
“It’s hard not to notice that among the small percentage who favour keeping the current closure, there are individuals known for their passionate advocacy for cycling and environmental causes, often championing policies that prioritise alternative transport at the expense of motor vehicles.
“While their commitment is clear, the sheer weight of public opinion suggests their vision for Exeter’s roads isn’t widely shared.”