‘Stuck on red for over an hour’: Banwell residents clash with traffic light firm
Locals in Banwell have been stuck in long queues at temporary traffic lights, which have been showing red lights to both ends
A traffic light company has insisted its temporary traffic lights do not malfunction in the rain after drivers in a Somerset village warned they were frequently stuck on red at both ends.
Intelligent Traffic Systems (ITS) saaid there is nothing wrong with its lights on the A371 (Knightcott Road) through Banwell. But village locals say the lights have been going out of sync when it rains, with the traffic lights in one direction only letting four or five cars through before they turn red again.
Chantelle Fox told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “At the start of this week there was an occasion where they were stuck on red for a considerable length of time. Some people were stuck there for over an hour that day.”
She said: “I have been told by the company that’s maintained the traffic lights that it’s the weather — which obviously is completely ridiculous because we live in England.”
Steve Voller, who chairs Banwell’s parish council, said he thought the issue was compounded by frustrated drivers driving through the red lights and confusing their sensors further. He said: “I have been caught in them for 15-20 minutes, other people longer.”
Signposts have now been put up alongside the queues displaying the phone number of ITS with instructions to call it “in the event of traffic light failure.” ITS said that the long wait times were due to the number of works in the area but insisted that wait times at the traffic lights had never reached an hour.
The company said that all traffic lights underwent rigorous testing before being used on the road network and that the company received alerts if there was a fault. A spokesperson for ITS told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I can categorically state that the lights, since deployment, have had no faults, at no time were not working, and there are no issues with them.”
The traffic lights are in Banwell because a £105m bypass is being built around the village to try and ease the village’s already terrible traffic. Two A-roads funnel traffic into the village where the roads are, at one point, only wide enough for a single car. The village has been plagued by terrible congestion since as long ago as 1754.
With the dawn of the motorcar, a bypass was first proposed around the village in 1927. It has taken a century but that is finally set to become a reality. North Somerset Council signed off on the plans in 2023 and work is well underway on opening the new road next year.
Ms Fox moved to Banwell two years ago and says she is ok with putting up with roadworks in order to get the long awaited bypass. She said: “We knew the bypass was going to be happening. We certainly signed ourselves up for some hassle but not to this extent. This is just not acceptable.” Mr Voller, a long time supporter of building the bypass, said: “Hopefully it is short term pain for long term gain.”
Galliford Try, the contractors building the £105m bypass, said: “We are aware of previous issues with the lights on Knightcott Road and have worked hard with the traffic management sub-contractor to resolve these as soon as possible. New equipment has now been installed that should improve the flow of traffic through these works.
“The traffic lights are essential to ensure the safety of our workers as they construct the Banwell bypass and associated shared use path which will connect Weston-super-Mare with the Strawberry Line, opening many future travel and leisure opportunities for local people. We appreciate that road disruption can be frustrating, but when the bypass opens it will reduce local congestion and build greater capacity and resilience into the local road network for the long-term.”
ITS said: “ITS are contracted to supply the traffic lights to HW Martin for the Banwell scheme. Due to other road works and road closures in the area there is an increased volume of traffic passing through the site on Knightcott Road. As with all road works, delays are unfortunately to be expected and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
“Our lights are monitored remotely and our engineers have re-visited site earlier this week and adjusted the timings which should result in an increased and improved traffic flow reducing delays through the works.”
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service on Friday (January 30), the company said it had received no further complaints since the traffic light timings were adjusted earlier in the week.