'Dangerous' Shrewsbury roundabout still awaiting improvements after concerns voiced for years

Works are due to be carried out at the mini roundabout on Sundorne Road, near Severn Fields Medical Practice in Shrewsbury, but were cancelled at the eleventh hour in October after contractors discovered a gas main in the area.

Councillor Kevin Pardy, who represents Sundorne on Shropshire Council, said the latest knock back was infuriating to residents who had voiced concerns about the layout since the roundabout was created in 2012, to facilitate the entrance to the new medical centre.

Councillor Pardy said: “In 2013 when I first became councillor for the Sundorne ward I received many complaints about the roundabout.

“Complaints reported numerous near misses and, unfortunately, accidents having taken place on the site.

“Over the years I’ve had a number of promises from highways that work would be carried out but apart from the cutting back of a hedge no work has been carried out.”

At one point it looked like a solution could be in sight, when Councillor Pardy was informed that a £20,000 programme of works was to be carried out at the roundabout to make it safer to negotiate.

But the improvements never materialised.

Councillor Pardy said: “On contacting the highways department I was told that projects had to be prioritised and Sundorne Road had been deferred.

“Over the years there has been delay after delay.”

Altered

He said he was then invited to a meeting with the highways department and was presented with diluted plans which he refused to agree to, saying it was a “token effort” and would not lead to safety improvements.

The plans were altered and he cautiously agreed to the project going ahead on a trial basis in September this year.

Councillor Pardy said: “The plans were still a diluted version of the originals but they were certainly an improvement.

“The work was scheduled for September, unsurprisingly they were delayed until October. I received an email detailing when the work would begin and how the operation would be managed.

“The week before work was due to begin I received an email to say that work had been postponed because the contractors had not noticed a gas main situated in the work area.

“I find this very surprising as the gas main was shown to me by highways at least four years ago.

“A few days after receiving the cancellation there was yet another accident on the roundabout resulting in extensive damage to the vehicles involved.”

'Unacceptable'

Councillor Pardy said it was not acceptable that vital safety improvements had been repeatedly delayed and scaled back when other roadworks schemes – including the resurfacing of a Shropshire councillor’s lane for £80,000 last year – had been prioritised.

He said: “I was also blown away that £80,000 was spent on non-urgent works yet Sundorne’s budget had been cut from £20,000 to £8,000 and this work was required because the layout of the roundabout caused a danger to road users.”

Shropshire Council said the works would be rescheduled.

Councillor Pardy said he would like to see a raised roundabout created, at a more central position in the road to give better views to the right when leaving the medical centre.

He has also called for better signage, speed bumps and the pelican crossing to be moved further away from the island.

A further improvement, he said, would be to shave back the kerbing which currently causes large vehicles turning left out of Meadow Farm Drive into the middle of the road.