Cyclists of all levels of experience, from daily commuters to Exeter to near beginners, heard Cllr Nick Way and Sustrans Area Manager Peter Grainger report progress on a cycle route to Exeter, and made their views known. While the journey will be a long one, it ought to start within the next six months.

The meeting, convened by Lib Dem local Councillors, heard the bad news that though cycle routes from Crediton and Tiverton to Exeter are in Devon County Council's plans, they are right at the bottom of the priority list, with no money even notionally allocated until after 2015. Although a feasibility study has been done, the County seems reluctant to release it, and has not yet analysed it.  Nick is pressing them. 

Some things are clear: The County does not have the money it did, the route is expensive, it won't happen without pressure. But the County Council responds to pressure. All routes now in place have had strong action groups.

From now on, Peter Grainger made clear, local councils will have to add money to the pot, and action groups will need to push hard to get what they want.  But if we press, we might get.  As the saying goes: 'It's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease'.

What sort of cycle route should we have? Views were mixed. For a significant number, especially families, a dedicated cycle path off the road was a priority. They would not use any roads, with children; others said they would feel unsafe. Commuter cyclists felt differently, saying that it was a matter of perception, and of knowing how to ride safely.

Peter Grainger pointed out that only one third of the national cycle routes are on dedicated paths, and suggested that a completely off-road cycle route would be prohibitively expensive. The estimated cost of the route to Exeter was at least £9 million, as a stab in the dark for a dedicated off-road route. And that excludes the most expensive final stretch into Exeter, which will go either along St Andrews Road or expensively over the water (with the faint hope of new flood defences providing a helping hand).  Nick is pressing the County to put more meat on the bones of their consultant's scheme to bridge the Exe or develop the St Andrews Road idea.

By the end of the meeting there may have been agreement, if a somewhat reluctant one,that the only viable route in the circumstances is via the back roads to Newton St Cyres and Langford before the difficult last stretch.

How to help make it happen, when cycling groups in East Devon particularly are well on the way with routes that are purely for leisure, without the safety and travel-to-work elements that route from Crediton will provide? Peter Grainger's most helpful suggestion was that we should make alliances. Exeter cyclists want to have a route out of the city in our direction, and the Newton St Cyres A377 Action Group is also very relevant. Both the CTC in Exeter, and the Exeter Cycle Forum, should be approached.

A safe route out at Cowley will open up lots of possibilities at a time when the routes on either side of the Estuary are beginning to lose their novelty value for City cyclists.

Finally, the meeting welcomed Nick Way's good news that funding for the contra-flow at Belle Parade is 'virtually agreed'; though there was astonishment that the installation of an island separating the contra-flow cycle route from the main carriageway, a few road signs and some white lines could cost £10,000. Nick hoped that the contra-flow could be in place within six months.

Peter Grainger added that the continuation from there via the Leisure Centre and out to the lane to Newton St Cyres was being actively explored, and would bring benefit to many in the town, particularly people with mobility issues, who would have an easier route to Shobrooke Park.

So, while a cycle route to Exeter will be an uphill struggle, we may be closer to making a serious start than many people suppose.