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'Busy main road has split our village in two'

Charlie Stubbsin Leebotwood
News imageCharlie Stubbs / BBC Rebecca Hill is wearing a purple Karrimor water proof and a grey T-shirt. She has blonde hair, which is tied back. She also has a heart-shaped pendant. Behind her is a main road, on which a light-blue lorry and a red car are travelling.Charlie Stubbs / BBC
Rebecca Hill set up a petition three years ago calling for a 30mph limit or a pedestrian crossing in Leebotwood, but it was turned down

People living in a south Shropshire village say their community has been split in two because of the challenges they face crossing a busy A-road.

Leebotwood, on the A49, is one of the only villages between Shrewsbury and Ludlow that has no 30mph limit or a pedestrian crossing.

Residents say they feel forgotten, especially after a petition calling for the road to be made safer was turned down three years ago, despite being signed by more people than the village population.

National Highways (NH) said when "investing taxpayers' money," it needed to "prioritise spending where value is greatest" and after looking "in depth" at the village, it was not considered a high priority.

The petition was set up by Rebecca Hill, who moved into the village around a decade ago, and said the A49 had "always been a problem".

"Both my children catch the bus every day and the speed of traffic, it's meant to be 40mph, but [drivers] go faster and finding a safe space for them to cross, it's just lethal," she said.

"There has been so many accidents and then there was a death 20 years ago, but again it was the speed of the traffic."

'Can't see traffic coming'

The pedestrian crossing campaign, which has been going on for five years, has been supported by Liberal Democrat councillor Chris Naylor.

He said he believed traffic had "almost doubled" in that time and volumes were "more intense in the morning and afternoon period".

Naylor added he felt bad for parents in the area, trying to encourage their children "to be independent."

"This isn't some little back lane in the middle of nowhere, it's a serious main road made worse perhaps by the fact you've got bends either end so you can't see the traffic coming," he said.

"It's a farming community around here, and people are going off commuting to work, whether it's down in Leominster or Ludlow or up to Shrewsbury. You have a lot of people driving locally, which adds to the traffic."

News imageCharlie Stubbs / BBC Chris is wearing an orange Montane coat with a brown lining, a scarf and a grey jumper. He has grey short hair, which is pushed to one side. He is stood in front of the A49. There is a wooden fence on the right of the picture, with big trees and a purple plant. Charlie Stubbs / BBC
Chris Naylor is the Liberal Democrat Shropshire councillor for Burnell

In a statement, NH said it took safety concerns in the village "seriously" and had looked in the situation in Leebotwood "in depth".

It added that "when investing taxpayers' money [we have] a responsibility to prioritise spending where the need and value are greatest".

"Based on current pedestrian usage at this location, other schemes are considered a higher priority for improvements at this time," a spokesperson said.

"This stretch of the A49 remains on our list of sites for potential improvement and we will continue to monitor the situation here as we do with all of our roads."

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