The Parish Council has, over the last 20 years, been prompting National Highways (formerly Highways England and the Highways Agency, the body responsible for trunk roads, including the A1) to improve the safety of the various junctions in our area. Here is the response which we received from them in 2020:
‘..aware of continued problems at Guyzance Crossroads, my team has been involved in undertaking an initial investigation into measures that could be justified to improve the safe and efficient operation of the junction. Whilst we have looked at options to close the central reservation opening at this junction, these have been discounted as it is currently not affordable to build an over-bridge at this location and there are no suitable alternative crossing locations in close proximity to the junction for motorists to divert to. However, we have identified some smaller scale improvements that could be introduced at this junction. We are currently at the start of developing the details of the scheme and some investigatory works are proposed in the near future to establish the locations of statutory undertaker’s apparatus locations in the verges. However, no funds have been secured to build the scheme at this stage, which will take some time to develop. Furthermore, to ensure that our limited funds are targeted at schemes that offer best value for money, this improvement will compete for funds with other safety schemes of this nature across the country; so I am not currently in a position to advise you when the scheme is likely to be delivered.
I hope that this response at least provides you with the assurance that we are aware of the difficulties that drivers face when negotiating this junction and that it confirms that we are already taking steps to progress improvements for Guyzance Crossroads.’
Following the recent serious accident (August 2023) which occurred at the Guyzance crossroads, we contacted National Highways again, and have received this reply:
‘Thank you for your email of 10 August on behalf of Newton on the Moor and Swarland Parish Council regarding our ongoing efforts to improve safety at Guyzance Crossroads on the A1. Your email has been passed to me as the Route Manager for this section of the A1.
We keep the safety performance of our network under continuous review. Accordingly, we are aware of the collision at Guyzance Crossroads which occurred on Wednesday 2nd August. You will appreciate that it would be inappropriate for us to pass comment on the collision so soon after the incident however, we will review the findings of the collision investigation and take them into consideration as we continue to develop safety interventions for this section of the A1.
Following the previous engagement with the Parish Council, we secured Preliminary Design funding to progress a safety scheme for Guyzance Crossroads. In our previous response we outlined some of the options which have been discounted. Our preferred option is to install a nearside diverge lane for southbound A1 vehicles and to bring the southbound offside diverge facility up to current standard. We also intend to make improvements to the signing and road marking layout, to increase warning of the risk of vehicular conflicts as well as improving driver information regarding authorised movements.
We are now working to identify funding to deliver our scheme. However, we are currently experiencing funding constraints and so it is possible that our proposed scheme will not progress beyond Preliminary Design until the third Road Investment Strategy (RIS3) which begins in March 2025.
I hope my response sufficiently outlines to the Parish Council our awareness of the local concern regarding the safety of Guyzance Crossroads and our ongoing efforts to improve the safety performance of this junction.’
We have since replied to National Highways both to emphasise the community’s concerns and to request further details of the process and timetable for the RIS3 funding programme. We will post updates on our website, as they become available
24 August 2023