MP set to address rural transport issues

Mr Dunne visited Clun at lunchtime where he saw for himself the problems on the A488 through the town and the bridge over the River Clun which has repeatedly been struck by large vehicles trying to get over it.

He met with Councillor Dean Carroll, Shropshire Council's portfolio holder for physical infrastructure and chairman of the town council, Ryan Davies.

Overnight saw two more incidents where large HGVs got stuck trying to get off the bridge and into the centre of Clun drinkers at The White Horse Inn, including councillor Carroll had to assist the drivers.

Mr Dunne said in his 20 years in politics in the area he had seen many such issues of large HGVs either getting stuck in rural roads, villages or small towns, or striking objects and felt more needs to be done to make sure drivers can find an alternative route.

He said: "I will be speaking with the transport minister in parliament to see if more can be done to give the power to local authorities to take it up with satellite navigation companies to remove the 'pinch points' that seem to come up which in reality are totally unsuitable for a large vehicle to drive through.

"It is not just a county-wide issue but a national one and although the signage does state about vehicles of more than 10m not being allowed through, that can be difficult to be enforce - drivers are now reliant on electronic navigation systems where a route used to take more planning and preparation.

"Certainly we want to avoid the problems the residents of Clun have had recently where the bridge and other vehicles have been struck and lorries have become stuck which causes traffic backlogs for other people trying to get through."

Councillor Davies said he was grateful to Mr Dunne for visiting and also pledged to look at better and more signage for the town to stop large vehicles driving through when there were alternative routes if they could plan them out.