TRANSPORT chiefs from Flintshire Council faced a grilling after admitting they still have no idea how to solve the congestion nightmare at the county’s worst traffic blackspot.
Dave Faulkner, Flintshire’s head of highways and transportation, told traders and councillors in Shotton there is no overnight solution to the town’s long-running problems.
Mr Faulkner told a meeting of Shotton Town Partnership: “I do realise how passionate people are about this and I do sympathise.
“Congestion in Deeside is one of my top priorities and the problem is not being ignored but there is no overnight solution. I would be foolish if I said there was.”
He added: “I really don’t have the answer. I have got to find some experts to help me.”
Hitting back, town councillor Dave Evans said: “I don’t like hearing that you haven’t got any ideas. This isn’t something new that has suddenly been sprung on you. It has been going on for years.
“You say this is the number-one priority but it doesn’t seem to be. You say you sympathise but yet again I’m hearing no solutions from the people who can do something about it.
“You don’t live here and you don’t see it whereas we here in Shotton have to live with it every day.”
The meeting, held at Deeside Enterprise Centre on Rowleys Drive in Shotton, was told about 18,000 vehicles pass through the town every day and that 85 per cent of journeys are made by people living in the Deeside area.
Shopkeepers and councillors again suggested that letting buses pull over into laybys on the main road when picking up and dropping off passengers would ease the congestion they claim is killing the town.
But Mr Faulkner said: “The question of buses and laybys is not proven. There is a counter-argument that we have to keep buses on the highway so they don’t have a struggle to get back out again.
“Getting buses off the road wouldn’t completely solve the problem anyway.”
He said there were sound engineering reasons why the existing laybys couldn’t be modified to allow buses to stop in them.
Mr Faulkner said he planned to spend £50,000 on specialist consultants to look into Deeside’s transport needs.
Derek Kirby, head of highways strategy at Flintshire Council, said the laybys are actually designated as loading and unloading bays.
He added: “It was part of the original plan for the area supported by the town council in February 2000.
“I have come through Shotton on many occasions myself to assess problems and it’s a problem that’s not going to be easily resolved.”
Mr Faulkner said he would take the concerns on board and go away and look at some possible solutions.
Are you affected by the traffic problems in Shotton?
Have your say on the issue below.