No change for Bishop's Castle 'danger' junction

A three-way Shropshire road junction branded "an accident waiting to happen" will not be changed despite a 200-signature petition calling for action.

Bishop's Castle town councillors were presented with the document urging them to look again at the junction of Union Street, Church Street and Station Street.

But last night's town council meeting voted to leave the layout as it is.

Members decided re-establishing the original right of way could be more dangerous and might even cause an accident at the "confusing" junction.

It is the second time they have voted to leave the road layout as it is.

The junction was originally a through road from south to north, with two T-junctions, but Shropshire Council changed the layout a few years ago so that motorists would have to give way at three points.

Councillor Jim Gaffney said : "The danger is not that cars might collide with each other at five or 10 miles an hour. The risk of re-establishing a right of way is that pedestrians might be hit at 20 or 30 miles an hour.

"It is a bit of a mess at the moment, but at least the traffic seems to be quite slow.

"The assumption that we have no right of way is working. It means that drivers do things slowly."

But Karen Bavastock, who runs a business in the town, said she had launched a petition calling for it to be returned to its original layout because she had witnessed many near-misses at the junction.

She said previously: "I have written to the town council urging them to look at this junction before there is a serious accident."

The councillors did vote to repaint the markings on the road.