Fresh calls for A5 upgrade near Oswestry after crash

North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson said the latest crash on the Shotatton crossroads on the A5 near Oswestry emphasised the "desperate need" for the road to be dualled.

A man in his 20s was taken to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital with minor injuries after his car rolled over on the road shortly after 2am yesterday.

Mr Paterson said: "It's an absolutely abysmal road. The only solution is to have a proper dual carriageway in both directions.

"Thankfully this man only suffered minor injuries but that's not always the case, many of my constituents have been affected by death and injuries on this stretch of road.

"The road being brought up to a modern standard would save lives and the trauma it causes friends and family following an accident."

Mayor of Oswestry, Councillor Paul Milner, described the Shotatton crossroads as "lethal" and said he backed Mr Paterson's call for the road to be turned into a dual carriageway.

He said: "Too many accidents and too many lives have been lost on that stretch of road, and I think something needs to be done about the road sooner rather than later.

"The road also causes people from Oswestry who are travelling to A&E to get there slower because it's such a poor road."

It comes in the same week Mr Paterson confirmed that a date had been set for when roads minister John Hayes will visit the county.

Mr Hayes will visit Shropshire on March 2, accepting an invitation from the Conservative MP, as part of his 20-year long campaign to see the A5, particularly the stretch between the Nesscliffe bypass and the North Wales border, upgraded to a dual carriageway.

The minister will be driven along the stretch of the A5 north of Shrewsbury which is the only single carriageway section of the Trans-European Highway between Dover and Holyhead.

Mr Paterson has previously said the road has two of the most dangerous junctions in Shropshire – at the Shotatton crossroads, where this latest accident occurred, and Queens Head, near Oswestry.