Notorious Flintshire junction to get safety upgrade this month

Improvement work is set to begin this month at a notoriously dangerous junction in Flintshire.

Last year, Gwernaffield and Gwernymynydd Cllr David Coggins Cogan (Lib Dem) brought a petition to full council which had been signed by hundreds of residents urging the authority to do everything within its power to secure safety measures for the Cadole Road, particularly its junction with Hafod Road and Pant Y Buarth.

Cllr Coggins Cogan gave a moving speech in the council chamber when handing in the petition, citing a number of fatalities that have occurred in that area during his lifetime.

Speaking at the time, he said: “I was born in 1979 and since then at least five people have died on my community’s roads.

“I say ‘notoriously dangerous road’ as this council is already aware of how residents live with that road every day.

“This council knows there are two blind summits, a quarry entrance, driveways that enter directly onto a 60 miles per hour road with no visibility splays, a bus stop used by school children, and no pavements or verges approaching one of the blind summits, forcing pedestrians to walk around a live carriageway.

“I humbly beg and plead to this council please act and make my community safe. Please spare my community and affected families the pain of another death.”

He added: “Five people have been killed and nothing much has happened apart from hang-wringing and sincere condolences.

“My community now fears a new cliché being coined at our expense – ‘They won’t do anything about that road until a child dies’.”

Petitions are made at full council meetings throughout the year, with responses provided at the last full council meeting of the year – the annual general meeting takes place this week on Thursday, (May 4).

The formal response from the chief officer for highways to Cllr Coggins Cogan’s petition states that potential new safety measures are being drawn up, while an accident remedial scheme has already been agreed and junction improvement work is set to begin this month.

Wider improvement work will be considered if funding becomes available from the Welsh Government.

The response states: “A meeting was held with the community council working group in November 2022 to share initial scheme proposals; however, neither Councillor Coggins-Cogan nor Councillor Davis-Cooke (the other local member) were able to attend.

“Several attempts have been made to reconvene a meeting with local members to no avail. Given the inability to arrange a suitable meeting, scheme drawings have been sent to local members requesting comment; however, no comments have been received to date.”

The response states that an initial accident remedial scheme at the junction of Cadole Road has been designed and “shared with North Wales Police”.

It adds: “Junction improvement works are proposed to commence in May 2023; however, wider scheme improvements will be subject to future availability of Welsh Government grant funding and successful bids.”
By Rory Sheehan – Local Democracy Reporter (more here).