Joyce meets A40 safety campaigners

Joyce Watson AM has met campaigners calling for safety improvements to the A40.
Llanddewi Velfrey Community Council has appealed to the Welsh Government to widen the pavement along the southern side of the A40 between Llandaff Row and the east end of the village. Their petition, which has gathered 154 signatures, also calls for the speed limit around the village to be reduced from 40mph to 30mph.
Mrs Watson, who is a member of the Assembly’s Petitions Committee, visited campaigners on site to see how traffic impacts on pedestrians. She said:
“It is a very busy stretch and there is a lot of heavy goods traffic. The path is barely wide enough to walk single file. To pass someone coming the other way I had to step onto the road so goodness knows how people with pushchairs and wheelchairs manage.”
In February, the Minister for Local Government and Communities, Carl Sargeant wrote to the Chair of Petitions Committee, informing members that the speed limit review for the A40 between Llanddewi Velfrey and Scotchwell Roundabout will be undertaken in the coming financial year. The review will now be overseen by the new Minister with responsibility for transport, Edwina Hart.
In 2005 an exhibition was held in Llanddewi Velfrey village hall to show plans for road safety improvements. However, the project did not get underway. In 2009 the then Welsh Minister for transport, Ieuan Wyn Jones visited the site. In a follow up letter to the Community Council he wrote: “my officials appreciate that the existing footway through the village is below normal standards, and that improvement would be appropriate”. Campaigners claim a small section of footpath was improved but the remaining stretch is still unsafe.
Last month Mrs Watson led a backbench debate on road safety. Assembly members passed Mrs Watson’s motion to encourage local authorities in Wales to implement more 20mph limits.
ENDS
Additional Information
Caption: Joyce Watson AM (left) with members of Llanddewi Velfrey Community Council
Letter from the Minister for Local Government & Communities to Chair of the Petitions Committee
Information about the Road safety on the A40 in Llanddewi Velfrey Petition is online here .
Petition wording:
Due to the increasing levels of traffic, especially heavy goods vehicles, on the A40 and due to the inadequate provision of safe pavements and pedestrian crossings acknowledged by the Trunk Road Agency through research on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government we, the undersigned, hereby demand the Welsh Assembly Government, as a matter of urgency, improve road safety in the village of Llanddewi Velfrey, Narberth, Pembrokeshire through implementation of the following measures:
1. Improve the inadequate pavement along the southern side of the A40 between Llandaff Row and the far eastern end of the village to ensure that it meets current safety standards, that it is sufficiently wide for the safe use of pedestrians, pushchairs and wheel chair users taking into consideration the proximity of heavy goods traffic passing by at speeds often in excess of the current limit of 40mph.
2. Install speed cameras at the eastern and western ends of the village.
3. Utilise the existing electrical installation for road crossing signs to provide flashing warning lights at times when children will be crossing the A40 to catch their school bus.
4. Install traffic calming measures at each end of the village and at road junctions to emphasise the need to reduce speed.
5. Reduce the speed limit to 30mph.
Lead petitioner:
Llanddewi Velfrey Community Council
Number of signatures:
154
Business type: Petition
Reason considered: Assembly Business;
Considered by: Petitions Committee
For more information contact Joyce Watson’s office on 02920 898972 or at www.joycewatson.co.uk