Introduction

1. Background

The A477 junction with the B4314 in Carmarthenshire provides access to Red Roses village.

The A477 forms part of the Strategic Road Network (SRN), and is the responsibility of the Welsh Government. The South Wales Trunk Road Agent (SWTRA) has responsibility for day-to-day operation and maintenance of the SRN. The road provides links to South Pembrokeshire, including access to Pembroke Dock, Milford Haven, Tenby and Saundersfoot.

The Welsh Government completed the A477 Trunk Road St Clears to Red Roses Improvement project in April 2014. A series of improvements to the A477 had been undertaken since the 1980s. The original construction and alignment of St Clears to Red Roses section did not meet highway standards. The project saw construction of 8.7km of new road between Pont Newydd Bridge and Red Roses Village as a single carriageway with over half its length carrying three lanes (known as a ‘2 + 1’ arrangement).

Road Safety concerns were raised soon after the opening of the new road. Local politicians welcomed the new road but highlighted that the right angle turn into the village follows a fast downhill section of the road.

Senedd Research analysis of police accident data shows that there have been three collisions recorded within 100m of the junction between 2014 and 2023, all resulting in minor injuries.

However, it should be noted that police STATS19 statistical returns  are used in official reporting of road accident data in Great Britain. These only record details of road traffic accidents that resulted in a personal injury and which were reported to the police within 30 days of the accident. The accident data will not include collisions which do not meet these criteria or near misses.

2. Welsh Government action

In 2016, following concerns from local communities and representatives, the Welsh Government undertook a road safety audit of the A477. As a result of this, additional advanced warning signs were installed and a 28 day safety inspection initiated. While monitoring continued, road safety concerns about the junction continued to be raised in subsequent years.

The Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales’s letter to the Chair regarding this petition notes concerns, and stresses that the road “was designed to current standards and compliant at the time of construction”.

He continues, “driver behaviour is shown to be a major factor in the initial evidence and data available”. He outlines a number of planned steps:

…. design has been completed for ARAF/SLOW markings and enhanced road signs with yellow backing boards and the use of large static bollards to highlight the junction position. This is intended to enhance the presence of the junction for all users. The Road Safety Audit 1&2 is due to be completed for these designs before they can be taken forward.

A topographical survey has been completed for a potential police [speed] monitoring lay-by and work started on the design to see whether it is possible to safely accommodate a monitoring layby within our highway land boundary.

He also says streetlights, referred to in the petition, “are not deemed a requirement under current UK design standards” given the volume of vehicles using the junction and police data suggesting they are not required. He indicates that a scheme has been added to the 2025-26 funding programme “to identify potential preventative short term safety interventions at Red Roses.”

In terms of road safety policy, the Welsh Government published its Road Safety Framework in 2013 which set targets to be achieved by 2020. The current National Transport Delivery Plan commits to review the Framework between 2022 and 2024. The Cabinet Secretary wrote to the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee in February 2025, responding to a request for a timeline for publication of the updated road safety strategy, saying:

This year I intend to work with our partners to agree a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will provide a cohesive framework to coordinate focus on key areas such as, but not limited to, motorcyclist safety, rural roads, young and older drivers, e-mobility and impaired driving. It will align with the UK Government’s emerging strategy adopting the globally recognised Safe System approach, founded on the ethical principle that it is never acceptable for people to be seriously injured or killed on the road network.

A National Road Safety Board will be set up to manage the MoU and will be made up of key partners. The Board will provide oversight, coordinate stakeholder efforts, monitor progress and ensure the agreed road safety objectives are met.

3.     Welsh Parliament action

The issue has been raised on a number of occasions in the Senedd.

In June 2023, during First Ministers Questions, Sam Kurtz MS raised the issue of road safety on the A477 as a whole, referring to Red Roses as well as Nash Fingerpost Junction, which was the subject of a separate petition. He suggested the road “needs a complete and thorough review”.

In Plenary in April 2024 Sam Kurtz MS welcomed steps taken at Nash Fingerpost Junction, but again called for “a full review of safety along the A477 from St Clears to Pembroke Dock, following a number of issues raised with me by residents of Milton, Red Roses and Llanddowror”.

The Cabinet Secretary responded to say he was “open to discussion about how to improve the whole of the A477 and if the Member would wish to have a meeting with me, I'm more than happy to discuss that further”.

In March 2025 Sam Kurtz MS again acknowledged “the success of improvements” at fingerpost junction but with regard to the A477 said, “while this junction itself is compliant with the rules, common sense dictates that it's not safe”.

He asked that the Red Roses junction, and a second on the Llanddewi Velfrey-Redstone Cross bypass, be “looked at in more detail and that the regulations that are used to build these junctions are updated.”

The Cabinet Secretary’s response, as in the letter to the Chair, was that the junction was compliant at construction, that driver behaviour is a major factor in evidence collected to date, and a scheme to identify “short-term safety interventions” is included in the 2025-26 programme.