FOLLOWING a spate of crashes on the Winsley bypass, the village’s parish council has called on Wiltshire Council to review the safety of the road.

Last month Wiltshire Council’s highways department said the road did not meet its criteria for action of ‘three incidents in three years’ and that only three recorded crashes have occurred at the roundabout at the Bradford on Avon end of the bypass stretch since 1997.

Now the parish council has expressed serious doubts about the manner in which data on accidents is collected and is asking for another review into the road’s safety.

Councillors say there have been three significant collisions on or close to the roundabout this year and another three crashes by the junction at Dane Rise where cars have crashed through a garden wall.

Councillors are also worried for the safety of people crossing the road daily to get to Hartley Farm shop and Bradford on Avon Rugby Club, both of which have opened since the 50mph limit road opened in the 1990s.

Volunteers from the parish council conducted a count of pupils from the village crossing the roundabout to get to St Laurence School. Between 8am to 8.40am and 3pm to 3.40pm, 29 and 28 children crossed, with more than 400 cars passing in both directions during that time.

A Wiltshire Council spokesman said: “We take safety seriously and we constantly monitor collisions data. We welcome the parish council wanting to work with us on this and This is already due to be discussed on Monday by the Community Area Transport Group for the area.”

Local resident Johnny Kidney said: “I have young children and live close to the road, and we regularly cross to get to Hartley Farm, so we see the dangers first hand and the dangers it can pose for school children.”

“While I appreciate that achieving a speed limit change is not a straightforward exercise, I am determined that Wiltshire Council recognises that the data they have is far from complete and that they work proactively with the local community to identify ways of controlling speed and improving the safety of the road.”