Renewed calls for roundabout upgrades after crash

Wayne Daley called Moor Farm roundabout an "accident hotspot"

Councillors have once again urged the government to commit to long-awaited upgrades to two roundabouts following another accident.

Figures from Northumbria Police showed that there have been 14 accidents at or close to the Moor Farm roundabout since the start of 2020.

The latest crash happened on 31 October on the A19 Northumberland roundabout and caused major delays, which was the latest in a long line of issues at the junction.

The government has said the case remains under consideration, but Cramlington councillor Wayne Daley said the project was of huge importance.

Upgrades to Silverlink and Testos roundabouts further down the A19, in North Tyneside and South Tyneside respectively, have already been completed under the previous government, but plans to carry out the Northumberland phase of the project have stalled.

The government has faced calls to complete upgrades for several years, with concerns also raised over long delays, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The Conservative Northumberland County councillor called the Moor Farm roundabout an "accident hotspot".

'Maximum pressure'

"Moor Farm is not the best roundabout to get on and off, if something goes wrong it blocks up a whole access to North Tyneside," Daley said.

"We need to put maximin pressure on.

"If we're to get our growth corridor with the high tech businesses at Blyth, we need to invest in some of our communities."

In June, Labour's Cramlington and Killingworth MP Emma Foody used a Westminster Hall debate to call for the junctions at Moor Farm and the nearby Seaton Burn to be upgraded.

Government assessments previously threw the future of the project into doubt after it was branded "poor value for money".

However, changes to the so-called Green Book test, used by civil servants to assess the financial viability of projects, prompted renewed hope it could yet be approved.

The Department for Transport said it continues to consider the case for improving the roundabouts.