I REMAIN deeply concerned about the current proposals for the A38 between Liskeard and Trerulefoot - and I hope the strength and unity of the public response encourages National Highways back to the table to discuss alternatives.

We urgently need to improve safety at Menheniot and Lean Quarry, but the proposed scheme pushes significant traffic onto surrounding rural roads, creating new risks and effectively dividing communities by replacing short local journeys across the A38 with diversions of several miles.

National Highways itself describes it as an interim scheme developed around the funding currently available.

A viable short-term approach should still be pursued, but we should not abandon the more comprehensive grade-separated scheme previously proposed.

The 2018 A38 Case for Action, backed by local authorities, MPs and business groups, identified a grade-separated Menheniot/Lean Quarry improvement at around £14.2m as part of the proposed 2020-25 Road Investment Strategy.

By 2022, the cost estimates subsequently presented by National Highways had risen to £80m-£207m, with the closest comparable single-junction/link-road option estimated at £167m.

These are not necessarily identical schemes, of course, and design requirements will have changed. But the cost difference is extraordinary and cannot be explained by construction inflation alone.

Before we simply accept that grade separation is unaffordable, we need to understand what changed in the design, scope and costing between 2018 and 2022.

I will continue to push for a realistic interim approach which reduces immediate safety risks without creating new problems for rural roads, communities and businesses.

But at the same time, we need to be working on a financially viable long-term solution that genuinely improves safety, maintains sensible local connectivity and can cope with the traffic growth we know is coming.