Headache caused by new cemetery lights in Oswestry
Visitors to an Oswestry Cemetery are struggling to negotiate new traffic lights at a junction next to the graveyard.
One funeral director fears the lack of a box junction to allow funeral cortèges and other traffic access to the cemetery will lead to an accident.
Oswestry Town Council will discuss the problems at its meeting on Wednesday.
The Salop Road/Victoria Road junction is now controlled by traffic lights that also give access to the town's new Lidl supermarket. Work to create the new junction took several weeks and led to traffic chaos on which is one of the main roads in and out of the market town.
Since the junction was finished last month there have been complaints about the dangers of turning right into the cemetery access and car park that is next to the traffic lights. Earlier this week matters came to a head as an emergency ambulance arrived at the traffic lights just as a slow moving cortège was turning across its path into the cemetery gates.
Nick Richards from David Davies funeral directors said: "It seems the designers of the new road layout have not taken the cemetery access into account at all.
"When you have a funeral cortège that has gone through the traffic lights from the town centre and is trying to turn into the cemetery you can quickly get grid lock. People visiting the cemetery, particularly for a funeral, are often in a distressed state and so may not be as alert to the dangers."
Oswestry Town Councillors, who are responsible for the cemetery, are due to debate the dangers at tomorrow's full meeting.
Mark Wootton, highways manager – north and central, said:
"Following the opening of the new Lidl foodstore and commissioning of the new traffic signals at the junction of Shrewsbury Road/Victoria Road, whilst the junction itself is operating well, issues have arisen regarding access to the cemetery.
"Shropshire Council officers have since been in contact with Oswestry Town Council and have received representations from a local funeral director regarding the current access arrangements and related safety concerns. As a result officers have carried out a site assessment and are currently considering the most appropriate measures to improve the access arrangements to the cemetery."
