Residents hopes of speed cameras on a North Wales route plagued by irresponsible drivers have been dashed.
The Welsh Government made an announcement in December last year that funding would be made available to Conwy and Denbighshire Councils to develop a bid for funding under the Road Safety Capital Grant to install average speed cameras on the ‘Evo Triangle’ route in Conwy, a 20-mile stretch of road which is attracting dangerous drivers from around the UK.
However, Clwyd West Assembly Member Darren Millar has been informed by officers at Conwy County Borough Council that their bid was unsuccessful and safety measures will therefore not be going ahead.
Darren, who has previously condemned motoring magazine Evo for promoting the route, which consists of three roads which link Pentrefoelas and Cerrigydrudion, including a stretch of the A5 near Denbigh Moors, to thrill-seeking drivers, said “residents hopes have been dashed” by this latest news and called for an urgent statement from the Welsh Government.
He said:
“This is very bad news indeed. Residents have been hoodwinked into believing that the Welsh Government had given this project the green light and now their hopes have been dashed!
“Safety along this stretch is deteriorating as a result of the glamorisation of this route to irresponsible motorists and I’m fed up of seeing fatalities, accidents and near misses on these roads.
“There are YouTube videos that are encouraging people and petrol heads to gather in order to speed around this route and there are gaming companies which are also doing versions of this within their games in order to encourage people to visit.
“Something needs to be done and I cannot believe that the Welsh Government have knocked back this bid to deploy fixed speed cameras on this route, which would absolutely stop this problem once and for all. Residents deserve an urgent explanation as to why they have been strung along in this way.
“We have had some record improvements in road safety in Wales in recent years. I certainly don’t want things to go in the opposite direction because we failed to deal with this particular problem in my own constituency.”
Conwy County Borough Council officers will now be meeting with their Denbighshire counterparts over the next few months to discuss possible alternative options.