April 06, 2023 - 1463 views
Janet Finch-Saunders, Member of the Welsh Parliament for Aberconwy, has received a letter from Lee Waters MS, Deputy Minister for Climate Change, in which he apologises for advising that the section of the A470 between Glan Conwy and Betws y Coed will fall under the North Wales Transport Commission.
According to Mrs. Finch-Saunders this means that the Welsh Government have made a U-turn on both the WelTAG study and North Wales Transport Commission, leaving residents with little hope that any improvement will be made to the A470 between Glan Conwy and Betws y Coed.
This is the latest development in the work she is undertaking with the community so to try and secure improvements to the key section of trunk road, especially the bad Maenan bends.
A Freedom of Information Request to North Wales Police has disclosed that during the last 10 years, in the area within 1 mile either side of LL26 0YN (Erw Glas), there have been 4 ‘slight collisions’, 5 ‘serious collisions’, 17 ‘damage only’ collisions, and 27 ‘non reportable’ collisions. That is a total of 53 collisions, which shines a bright light on the serious problems residents and all road users are facing.
Commenting on the admission from the Deputy Minister, Mrs. Finch-Saunders said: “Action on the A470 in Aberconwy is what we want and need, not an apology from the Deputy Minister.
“We were promised a WelTAG review, and then consideration by the North Wales Transport Commission, but are actually being left with nothing.
“Adding to my frustration is the fact that the Deputy Minister has advised that any future study on the corridor will be considered once the North Wales Transport Commission’s advice has been received later this year.
“I think that any reasonable person would conclude that the Commission’s advice is very unlikely to have any recommendations about the road between Glan Conwy and Betws y Coed, for the simple reason that a decision has been made that they are not going to be considering it!
“I have written to the Deputy Minister again, urging him to keep to previous promises, especially bearing in mind that there have been 53 collisions during the last decade on a small section of the Aberconwy A470 alone.
“The Deputy Minister has a genuinely good opportunity to improve the trunk road, but is choosing a route that causes delays to actual action and no reduction to the risk of more accidents occurring”.
