The councils say that they are ‘desperately worried’ about how dangerous the narrow twisting stretch of road beyond the Bratton straight has become, but say their pleas for improvement have been continually ignored, despite the area having been a recognised blackspot for 50 years.
Allerford residents Craig Duffy and Susan Parmiter died at the scene when their car was in collision with a Mitsubishi Shogun near the Luckham turn-off. The Shogun driver was critically injured.
“The circumstances of the tragedy are still not known,” Cllr Max Lawrence, chairman of Selworthy and Minehead Without Parish Council, said this week. “But the tragedy has raised a lot of concern and anguish in the area.
“Something similar could happen on that stretch of road at any time if nothing is done. We also owe it to the couple who died and who were valued members of our community.”
Cllr Lawrence told the Free Press: “We intend to form a campaign group with neighbouring parish councils, including Porlock and Wootton Courtenay and hopefully Luckham and Minehead, to come up with an action plan to pressure the county council’s highways authority to make the road safe.
“As parish councils we have a responsibility for the safety of our residents and at the moment, particularly after the recent tragedy, they are desperately worried about how dangerous that stretch of road has become and with increased traffic it will only get worse.”
Read the full story in today’s Free Press