A ROAD safety measure on the approach to Tenbury has been slammed as a death trap.

Councillor Richard Huffer, who represents Clee on Shropshire Council, says that something has to be done about a mini-island that has been constructed on the A456 near Tenbury Hospital.

Tenbury mayor Councillor Mark Willis, a police officer for 30 years, has also slammed the traffic island.

Cllr Huffer says that he is to convene a meeting that will include Tenbury Town Council in a bid to get something done about the island that was installed as a road safety measure earlier in the year.

But he says that the idea has backfired and has made the road more dangerous and not less.

“It is only a matter of time before there is a fatal accident and something has to be done and that may mean taking the traffic island out,” said Cllr Huffer.

“The junction involved is used by people taking children to and from the Burford Primary School and that adds to the danger.

“For a long time there has been a problem with traffic travelling too fast along the A456 and the mini island was put in place as a traffic calming measure.

“However, motorists travelling from the direction of Newnham Bridge do not recognise it as a traffic island where they have to give way to vehicles coming from the left.

“As a consequence cars coming out from the road expecting that they have the right of way find that the vehicles are bearing down on them at speed.

“I do not know why drivers coming along the A456 in the direction of Burford and Tenbury do not seem to realise that this is an island and they should give way.

“It may be that the junction needs more signing but if it cannot be sorted out then the island will have to be removed. As it stands it is only a matter of time before there is a serious accident.”

Cllr Huffer who represents the area on Shropshire Council says that he is aware that Tenbury Town Council have concerns and he wants to convene a meeting that will include them and highways chiefs.

Cllr Willis has also been scathing about the mini-island.

“I suppose that while I welcome the attempt to improve safety at the junction it does seem that we have been left with a poorly signposted ‘pimple’ in the middle of the road which seems to have not improved matters at all,” he said.

“As a regular user of this junction myself I'm not impressed. With more than 40 years experience as a driver, and 30 of those as a police officer, I feel qualified to comment.”

The island concerned is at the junction of Forresters Road and the A456. Forresters Road leads into a large housing estate and also to Burford Primary School.

It is also close to the entrance to Tenbury Hospital.

Traffic travelling towards the mini-island from the direction of Newham Bridge will often be going quickly and will not have started to slow down as it approaches the village.

Cllr Huffer said there is a serious danger of an accident at anytime but the situations even more serious in the morning and afternoon. This is when the junction is used by cars taking children to and from the primary school and when people are leaving or returning to the housing estate.

Before the island was constructed traffic emerging on to the A456 was required to give way to vehicles travelling in either direction along the main road.

Cllr Huffer said the mini-island played no part in a fatal accident on the road nearby earlier this year.