Parish council leads road safety campaign for Frome bypass

Selwood Parish Council is leading a campaign to improve safety on the Frome bypass by working with local groups and organisations to explore traffic-slowing solutions. 

The Frome bypass runs through Selwood Parish, which consists of several hamlets and villages to the west, east and south of Frome.  

Following a series of fatal collisions on the bypass and growing concerns from residents about vehicle speeds, Selwood Parish Council is calling on local organisations, including Somerset Council, to consider traffic-slowing interventions. 

Vice chair of Selwood Parish Council, Cllr Christopher Bennett says that the parish council is currently gathering as much data as possible about incidents on the bypass to strengthen their campaign.  

Once sufficient data has been gathered, the council will arrange a meeting with the relevant organisations to discuss how to work together to improve safety. 

“Fatal collisions and incidents on the bypass are becoming a regular occurrence, and we feel the highways agency, road safety authorities and the police need to do more to put in measures that will prevent accidents. Most of them are caused by human error, collisions or other factors,” explained Cllr Bennett. 

The campaign has so far gained the backing of the local Somerset councillors Cllr Martin Dimery, Cllr Helen Kay and Cllr Dawn Denton. MP Anna Sabine has also indicated her support, and the Local Community Network working group for Highways and Road Safety has made the campaign a priority. 

The parish council is also aiming to join up with other current campaigns set up by local people to push their petitions. 

Pictured: Left to Right – Chris Bennett, vice chairman of Selwood Parish Council, Martin Dimery, Somerset councillor, and Jim Dowling, chairman of Selwood Parish Council.