BALTIC Wharf bosses have put together a £200,000 travel plan in an attempt to placate critics of their £48million scheme to redevelopment the riverside site in the heart of Totnes.

The travel plan is part of a £1million contribution the site owners have said they are prepared to shell out to fund transport improvements to the site — including the narrow route at St Peter's Quay.

The travel plan is aimed at reducing traffic to the quayside site where the developers want to build 180 new homes along with a 75 unit retirement complex, new employment units and a boatyard.

It includes proposals for regular bus services, car clubs, car sharing schemes, improved routes for cyclists and walkers and funding for a new post of travel co-ordinator — whose job would be to look at ways of tackling traffic congestion.

The proposals even include paying for a feasibility study into building a new footbridge across the River Dart linking both sides of the Dart via Steamer Quay and Vire Island.

The TQ9 Partnership, which owns the 26 acre site, has already failed once to get planning permission for a redevelopment scheme when planners rejected as too large on the grounds of the size of the development and its traffic impact on the town.

Since then the owners have submitted a fresh planning application — a slimmed-down version of the original with less homes, fewer car parking spaces and a smaller retirement 'village'.

The travel plan, which has just been published on the TQ9 Partnership's website — balticwharf.co.uk/revival — will form part of the latest planning application.

Steve Mittler, director of Baltic Wharf, said: "We recognise traffic is already a major issue in Totnes and so are doing our utmost to make the Baltic Wharf scheme as traffic light as possible.

"The travel plan is a key part of making our own proposals greener and more sustainable, but we want to extend this into the community to help tackle existing wider traffic issues in the town, and the impacts of other developments envisaged by local councils for the future.

"It makes sense to give community groups the means to pursue their own strategies with a travel co-ordinator."

Mr Mittler pointed out that Baltic Wharf's 'Riverside Revival' will create space for 350 jobs on site, compared with 80 now. Many of the new jobs will be within a new £3million purpose-built boatyard and marine centre.

Meanwhile, housing on site has been reduced from 250 to 180 in total, of which between 30-50 per cent will be affordable.

The proposals will also open up some 12 acres of green space overlooking the Dart for public recreation and provide new access to the river front, he said.

A community-led group called G4BQW has been closely involved in negotiating the slimmed down version of the Baltic Wharf project along with details of the travel plan.

Louis Victory, the G4BW member who has majored on traffic issues, said: "The forum has been strongly supporting green travel planning as an alternative approach to traffic management, making it more attractive and viable to travel in sustainable ways.

"While there are many other aspects of this development for the community to consider, the travel plan is potentially a real contribution to the future quality of life in Totnes."