VIVIENNE Parry Shropshire Councillor for Ludlow South, has strongly criticised Shropshire Council for failing to take action on a flooding blackspot adjacent to the A49 near the Salwey Arms at Woofferton.

“I have been urging the Council for months to take action on this problem,” said Mrs Parry.

“There is a gap in a critical drain leading to repeated flooding. It poses a hazard to motorists as well as those using, in normal times, the Travel Lodge, coffee bar, and the new petrol station.”

The problem is on the B4362 near the entrance to the Travel Lodge just 100metres from the junction with the A49

“After a lot of pressure from myself and residents, Shropshire Council promised to take urgent action last October,” added Mrs Parry.

“Unfortunately, the job was cancelled on the first day. I was told that the metal top to the drainage pipe could not be found except with a metal detector which the contractors didn’t have. Apparently, nothing has happened since.

“This latest round of flooding has caused further damage to the road surface and some to the new petrol station. In addition, there is a great deal of mud over the road”.

“The really disturbing thing is that we are seeing a disturbing pattern of Council inaction across Shropshire with failure to act seriously impacting on residents lives. Take for example the shop in Bucknell that had to shut the other month after Shropshire Council repeatedly failed to clear a drain.

“Extreme weather events are now becoming the norm and Shropshire Council needs to have an effective strategy to deal with it.”

Mrs Parry and people living in the area also want to see action to improve safety near this site where there have been a string of serious injuries including fatalities.

In addition to these serious accidents there have been many minor collisions and near misses.

This is a very dangerous section of road and it is pure good fortune that more people have not been killed or seriously injured, says Mrs Parry.

She fears that until something is done this will continue to be a blackspot but nothing seems to happen to make it safer.

The junction requires traffic joining from Tenbury and travelling in the direction of Ludlow to cross the A49 at a point where speeds are high.

Ideas that have been considered include installing a roundabout and traffic lights but both of these options would be expensive.