A Solution In Sight For Sandy Road?

Air pollution. Traffic collisions. Gridlocks. A commonly held  sentiment that this is one of the most congested, clogged up roads in Wales.

Residents of Sandy Road are all too familiar with the problems encountered by living along this infamous stretch. Some have even expressed their desire to sell up and move elsewhere, with just how bad the problem has become.

Sandy Road accommodates several houses on either side. On one side of the road, there are double yellow lines, restricting parking to the opposite properties only.

At peak traffic times during the day there are deadlocks of traffic that have, during some of the worst times, been known to stretch back all the way to Pwll Road; a distance of nearly half a mile. The air quality during these gridlocks is noticeably worsened, and some residents have expressed concerns about impacts to health, much less the environmental considerations. 

Figures from 2021 showed that the air pollution along Sandy Road nearly exceeded the safety guidelines put in place by the World Health Organisation, with nitrogen dioxide levels of 39.8µg/m3. The safe limit for air pollution before a potential impact on health, such as respiratory disease, stands at 40 µg/m3.

During these gridlocks, cars can only inch forward minute by minute, stretching out journeys significantly. With a college and a school along its length, the mid-afternoon is often a nightmarish time to travel.

At night, the problem runs in the opposite direction, with cars speeding past well over the limit. In late February of this year, a collision between a van and a car occurred that required one of the individuals involved to be taken to hospital after assistance from the Fire Service to extricate them. While at the time it wasn’t firmly established that speeding was a factor in the crash, there have been similar incidents previously, and residents of the road itself certainly link it to speeding.

Residents of the area are adamant that the congestion problems can be firmly linked back to the traffic lights that were installed along the road’s length six years ago as part of the housing and retail development at the time. The turning onto Iscoed Road is widely regarded to be the epicentre of this problem. There is a prevalent fear that the incoming default 20mph speed limit in Wales will exacerbate an already grave problem if it isn’t fixed quickly.

Llanelli Town Council Leader, Cllr David Darkin, expressed his concerns with the air pollution issue back in November 2022, during which he urged Plaid led Carmarthenshire County Council to take action. At the time, Cllr Darkin said: “Llanelli is home to the two streets with the worst air pollution in the whole of Carmarthenshire. I have raised the issue with the county council, and I keep getting told that they are monitoring the situation.”

At the time, Cllr Aled Vaughan Owen, Carmarthenshire County Council Member for Climate Change, Decarbonisation & Sustainability said: “ The county council has developed a comprehensive Air Quality Delivery plan.”

Residents of the area have pitched their own solutions to the problem, foremost of which is to remove the traffic lights and add a mini roundabout instead. An alternate option suggested was to keep the traffic lights, but not allow right turns at them, instead requiring that lane of traffic to access the site via Denham Avenue using the roundabout.

For Cllr Martyn Palfreman and Cllr Ed Skinner, both of Hengoed Ward which the road is located in, this is a top priority issue that needs an actionable solution, which they’re keen to get the ball rolling on. We met with them to discuss the issue. Labour Cllrs Palfreman and Skinner started their term of office in May of 2022, and have been very upfront that they campaigned on the basis of finding a solution to the Sandy Road problem. By their own words, it was the number 1  thing on which they stood for election. They were equally frank that any solution will fall in line with what residents of the area are in favour of; consultation with residents is paramount. 

The two Cllrs were involved in arranging a meeting back in March which brought all the key individuals who could aid in a solution into one room, including representatives of Carmarthenshire County Council, Dame Nia Griffith MP, and Lee Waters MS.

Lee Waters MS said: “The council were warned that building a large housing estate of Sandy Road would cause serious traffic issues. And that has proven to be the case. This extra volume of cars can’t really be mitigated against and will inevitably lead to congestion at peak times ever since I was elected. I’ve been asking the council to consult with local people on what can be done to improve the situation. It’s now been six years since Nia Griffith and I handed in the results of a consultation we ran when the council failed to and progress has been very, very slow. There are now plans to create a filter lane to allow turning into the estate and I’ve recently met with the Council to discuss next steps”

Dame Nia Griffith MP, commented:  

“Traffic flow on Sandy Road is a County Council responsibility, and I have been urging Carmarthenshire County Council to rectify the situation ever since they installed the traffic lights in 2016. It is quite frankly shameful that residents are still having to put up with queues of idling traffic, whilst drivers are enduring long delays, adding considerably to their journey time.
“By Spring of 2018 as the Council had still not done anything to improve the situation, and as there was huge concern both from local residents and regular users of the road, Lee Waters MS and I organised a consultation, both in meetings and online, to which a large number of local residents took part. They contributed many constructive ideas for improving the traffic flow, including some very cheap ones, such as removing (or at least switching off the traffic lights), or prohibiting turning right off Sandy Road at the lights.
“Matters then stalled, and, in spite of chasing, it was not until the end of March of this year that Carmarthenshire County Council highways officers and planning consultants shared their proposals with us as local elected representatives. I understand that the preferred options include some modification work on both the Sandy Waterpark and Denham Avenue roundabouts and a right-turn filter lane at the Sandy Road lights, and that Carmarthenshire County Council has submitted a business plan for funding. 

“I will continue to urge the council to get on with the work, as it is high time this was resolved for both long-suffering residents and drivers.”

Both Cllrs felt that the meeting in March was fruitful, and that it helped get all involved parties on the same page as far as seeking out a solution is concerned.

Cllrs Palfreman and Skinner are proponents of the removal of the traffic lights, as well as the expansion of the Denham Avenue roundabout and refinement and reworking of the Sandy Road roundabout itself. They have warned, however, that pursuing these solutions would require applying for Welsh Government funding, the criteria of which has become much more strict recently. Though they warn there are no guarantees, they’re confident progress will be made with so many parties collaborating to fix the issue.

Beyond this,  the two are keen to reduce the flow of traffic along the road by encouraging more efficient school travel plans, and discourage the use of cars when feasible and practical. The Cllrs are mindful that, while a solution is closer than ever, it’s a cold comfort to residents of their Ward in the meantime.

Cllr Palfreman said: “We aren’t going to stop until this is done, but we won’t do it in a way that affects residents of the Ward badly.”