Road chiefs to meet over accident blackspot near Oswestry
Highways chiefs have agreed to sit down and hold top level talks with a senior councillor over an accident blackspot.
The A483 Llynclys crossroads has been the scene of scores of accidents over the years, including one where four children and three adults were hospitalised earlier this month.
It led to calls for changes to be made to the junction, including the prospect of traffic lights being installed.
Councillor Steve Davenport, cabinet member for highways, said he had managed to secure a date with Highways England to voice his concerns about the junction, which is between Oswestry and Pant.
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He said: “It is absolutely ludicrous that time and money has been spent on the works a mile down the road putting all those traffic lights in at Mile End and the Maesbury junction and Llynclys crossroads has been ignored.
“It has long been the site of several accidents a year and you only have to drive past on a semi-regular basis to see near misses.
“But I am delighted to say that I have managed to tie down talks with Highways England in late September and I will hold them to account and find out exactly what it is they are planning to do about it.”
He added: “I will do my best to secure improvements because it is a danger and on such a crucial stretch of road.”
Despite a 40mph speed limit being introduced in 2013 there are still regularly crashes at the crossroads, where the A495 and B4396 meet the A483 next to the White Lion pub.
More than 3,400 people have signed a petition calling for traffic lights to be installed at the junction.
In March there were two serious crashes within three days at the crossroads while the road was also shut following a crash in April.
Councillor Dilys Gaskell recently called for a bypass to be installed at the site.
She said: ““We don’t know how much more we can do – we had five deaths before we got traffic lights towards Oswestry.
“But we need a bypass. People are being scared to drive to the crossroads, going down side roads – we need a bypass.
“However no-one will speak up for it because we’re in the West Midlands and we’re not a priority – there’s other places further down the M6.
“They say we need more statistics but we’re not going to have them.”
