West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin has shared her concern over road safety along a dangerous stretch of the A46 with the new Secretary of State for Transport.

The MP has been working with a group of parish councils to press for urgent measures to reduce speed along the road including the use of a speed activated signs installed near to the junction at Hinton Cross.

However, nine months after the original meetings to discuss local concerns, no progress has been made.

Harriett has invited the chief executive of National Highways to meet her to encourage him to accelerate the project and also develop longer-term solutions to improve road safety where there have been a number of serious a fatal accidents at the section of the road between Evesham and Ashchurch.

Harriett said:

“The schools have returned and the nights are drawing in. Bad weather and darkness inevitably increases the risk of crashes.

“It is a busy and dangerous stretch of road and the local community is united in asking for urgent action from National Highways but, nine months on, nothing has been done.

“I’m told that much of the delay is down to inefficient internal processes and the so-called ‘short term fix’ is nowhere near implementation.

“I have raised this as a priority with the Secretary of State for Transport and I am hoping that National Highways will be encouraged to act – or meet with me to explain why they are not able to do this simple task.

“The time taken to deliver the short-term solution is extremely worrying and I dread to think how long the permanent solutions could take.

“This delay is putting people’s lives at risk and I hope that someone in National Highways will unblock the process and get something done.”