MP to visit Clun over heavy traffic trouble

Residents and members of Clun Town Council with Chapel Lawn have long been concerned with drivers of large lorries using the main A488 as a cut-through, hitting the bridge over the River Clun and sometimes narrowly missing pedestrians.

The matter came to a head two weeks ago just before the busy Bank Holiday weekend when an HGV damaged the wall of the main bridge before shunting a car with a driver in it, writing the car off, though the occupant escaped unscathed.

Mr Dunne will visit the town on Friday to meet with Councillor Dean Carroll, Shropshire Council's portfolio holder for physical infrastructure and chairman of the town council, Ryan Davies.

Mr Davies said large lorries using the A488 had long been a problem and there had been a number of incidents and near misses before the accident two weeks ago.

He said they were not looking to ban HGVs, but to improve signage in the area and also encourage them to plan their journey before they go by sourcing alternative roads.

He said: "A lot of the drivers, such as the one a few weeks ago, are not local and they probably don't realise how small Clun is and how difficult it can be to access it safely.

"Some of them use everyday satellite navigation systems which give the route through Clun as the only option but again, that doesn't take in how narrow the bridge is and the lack of width when going through the town. A lot of haulage companies have advanced planning systems which flag up the problems of routes through rural areas but incidents do seem to keep happening here.

"The accident a few weeks ago could have been a lot worse - as it was the car was written off and in all honesty it was possibly down to bad planning that it happened at all.

"The bridge has been closed at various times for repairs to the parapets and traffic has had to use alternative routes such as the B4368, B4385, A4113 and A488 - so there are ways of missing out Clun in large vehicles.

"Hopefully Mr Dunne will see what the problem is and may be able to use his influence to help us campaign for better signange so it is clear this road through Clun is really npot suitable for vehicles of a certain size."

The bridge over the River Clun is a stone packhorse bridge and was closed for remedial work on the approach in 2006 due to constant heavy traffic using it.