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Petition title: Lower the speed limit on the A5 through Glasfryn
Text of petition: We are calling for a speed limit of 30mph to be set on the A5 through the village of Glasfryn as a matter of urgency and before someone is killed. Families live on the edge of this busy and dangerous road. Businesses are conducted very near to the road and farmers and contractors use the road daily to conduct their businesses. Over the years, there have been a number of serious accidents including one fatality and several near misses. This is an urgent matter as it is only a matter of time before another serious incident occurs. |
The A5 at Glasfryn forms part of the trunk road network. Consequently, the Welsh Government is the highway authority, and also traffic authority responsible for speed limits on this stretch of road.
The speed limit through the village is currently 60mph. It forms part of what is informally known as the “Evo Triangle”, named because EVO magazine uses the 20 mile stretch of road to test cars. The Welsh Government has funded a road safety scheme in the area. This included installation of average speed cameras at each end of the A5 through Glasfryn. However, residents do not believe this is sufficient and that the speed limit should be reduced.
Currently speed limits on Welsh roads other than motorways are set using guidance published in 2009 known as Setting Local Speed Limits in Wales.
The Welsh Government published Llwybr Newydd: the Wales Transport Strategy in 2021. This commits to review the approach to setting speed limits.
In his letter to the Chair, dated 7 March, the Deputy Minister for Climate Change, Lee Waters MS says that the speed limit in the village has recently been reviewed using the 2009 guidance. That recommended no change.
However, he stresses that this guidance is being reviewed, and points to the guidance webpage which highlights that the Welsh Government would like to hear views on the review. Although it includes no formal response mechanism.
The updated guidance is expected to be published “by the end of the year”, at which point trunk road speed limits will be reviewed again. He stresses it would not be appropriate to review again using the current guidance.
In the meantime, he suggests concerns should be directed to the Go Safe partnership which is responsible for speed limit enforcement.
The Senedd passed the Restricted Roads (20 mph Speed Limit) (Wales) Order 2022 in June 2022 to implement Welsh Government policy in this area. This will introduce a default 20mph speed limit on restricted roads – the default limit is currently 30mph. While this would not apply to Glasfryn, it forms part of the basis for the review of speed limit guidance referred to by the Deputy Minister.
You have considered a wide range of petitions calling for speed limit change. Some call for speed reductions and / or other road safety measures. Others oppose the introduction of 20mph speed limits.
This specific issue of the A5 at Glasfryn was raised in Plenary on 21 September 2022 by Llyr Gruffydd MS. The Member said:
If you travel on the A5 from Bangor all the way to Shrewsbury, Glasfryn is the only village on that journey where there are no speed limits in place, even though there are busy junctions in the village and homes only a metre or two from the side of the road. Indeed, what you see when you reach the village are national speed limit signs, which, to all intents and purposes, remind drivers to drive at 60 miles an hour, which is entirely unacceptable.
The Deputy Minister’s response drew attention the speed limit policy changes described above. He said:
…. there are examples where a community feels the road speeds are too fast, and that is something we're going to look at as part of our overall package of modal shift.
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