Calls to review A1 dualling scheme after deaths

Calls for safety improvements on the A1 in Northumberland have intensified after five people died in two major incidents just nine days apart.

Campaigners have said the current traffic situation on the key route is "the worst it has ever been".

The government has pledged to improve safety at certain junctions in the county but further details, including timescales, have yet to be confirmed.

However, Northumberland County Council's Conservative leader Glen Sanderson and Labour's North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said local safety schemes would not solve the problem and both called for a scrapped dualling scheme to be reviewed.

In a letter to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, Sanderson and McGuinness said their main concern regarded the "safety compromise that inevitably takes place" when a road changes between dual and single carriageway.

"This has resulted in unacceptable levels of death and serious injury, along with the resultant grief and harm that takes place," they said.

The safety schemes currently under way would not address overcapacity and the lack of dual carriageway, they said, asking that party politics be put aside to allow for a discussion.

The A1 covers some 370 miles (595 km) in England and is a dual carriageway or motorway between the North Circular Road in London and Morpeth.

Plans to dual 13 miles (20 km) north of Morpeth were approved by the former Conservative government following a number of delays but work never got under way.

The current Labour government scrapped the scheme, claiming the project was unfunded and the £500m cost represented poor value for money.

Speaking on BBC Newcastle McGuinness said drivers were conscious of the issues while stuck in traffic "but the thing that drives it home is those deaths" and it felt like the region had repeatedly been "promised and then rode back on".

"Those safety improvements are absolutely critical - they have to happen," she said.

"The deaths last week prove that that's the case.

"But I do believe that we deserve a dual carriage way that runs through Northumberland and I'll keep making the case in the strongest possible terms."

Councillor Isabel Hunter, who represents the Berwick West with Ord ward on Northumberland County Council, has been calling for the road to be dualled up to the Scottish border for decades.

"I'm not bothered who is in government, we need this A1 dualled on safety grounds," the Liberal Democrat said.

"We can't lose any more lives. It can't go on. It is closed on a weekly basis at the moment due to accidents."

Two people died and three more were taken to hospital after a collision at Wandylaw early on Saturday morning.

On 21 May three people died and a another was seriously hurt following a crash between Denwick and South Charlton.

The road was also closed on Sunday after an incident at the Charlton Hall junction, with minor injuries reported after a two-vehicle collision.

Sanderson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he felt a "duty" to raise the dualling of the road again.

"I am trying to make it clear to government that Northumberland has changed hugely in the last five years," he said.

"We have moved forward in terms of tourism and with industry in the south east of the county.

"It is not a small, wild county with a few sheep and some nice castles. This is now a very vibrant part of the British Isles.

"We need a fresh look because of the tragedy. It's completely unacceptable and my worry is what will it look like in another five years?"

The government has pledged safety improvements including junction upgrades, improved signage, road markings, barriers and lighting.

North Northumberland MP David Smith said he would push for these to be rolled out as soon as possible.

"It's been a tragic week of yet more accidents on the A1, not least with the fatalities in the vicinity of Denwick," Smith said.

"We know the A1 through North Northumberland needs safety improvements and these have already been committed to by National Highways but these need to be swift and I will continue to press for them to be delivered as quickly as possible."

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