A CONCERNED councillor fears there could be a rough road ahead unless changes are made to Newquay’s new main route.

Newquay Porth and Tretherras Cornwall councillor Lyndon Harrison there are ‘serious’ problems along the A3059 through the Nansledan housing estate, which officially opened in May of last year. He has reservations about parts of the road’s layout after receiving complaints from residents and states drivers are still travelling too fast despite a 20mph speed limit being put in place.

The taxi driver put forward suggestions on how the road could be improved to County Highways but the department has reportedly stated “it is not prepared to change anything.”

Cornwall Council is due to carry out various improvements for pedestrians including new pedestrian crossings at Stret Euther Pendragon and Plen Tennyson, a signalled crossing on Quintrell Road, as well as improved widened island crossings around the roundabout at the entrance to the estate. It follows the Make Nansledan Safer — Demand Urgent Action on the A3059 campaign being launched after concerns were raised about pedestrian safety since the route fully opened.

But Cllr Harrison believes more needs to be done to ensure the road is safer in the future. He highlighted his concerns at Newquay Town Council’s meeting on Wednesday, October 7.

Cllr Harrison said: “Nansledan is a lovely estate and I like the way it looks but I have serious issues on that road.

“I’ve got experience of using roads as a taxi driver and I have serious reservations about its layout. It’s awful.

“The fact a pedestrian refuge has been run over damaging signage on several occasions over a very short time frame is alarming to say the least. On one occasion a driver had overtaken another car because they were impatient. The keep left sign was damaged. Then it was repaired. Within a week both of them were down. Now they’ve now been straightened up.

“The roundabout at the bottom where the new Tesco is being built there is a lot of ambiguity when drivers are approaching that area. It’s a roundabout but on one side it could be a T-junction and people are getting very confused. I don’t know if there has been an accident down there but there have been some near misses that I’ve been made aware of. I did ask for some signs for the approach to say it’s a roundabout and I’ve been told in no uncertain terms that’s not going to happen. They said it was set out like that and that they are not prepared to change anything.

“It will have to be revisited once the hoardings are down to see if drivers can see what’s approaching to ascertain whether that makes any difference at all.

“I’ve been advised the situation would sort itself out over time as people get used to the road. That may be the case in many places but this is a tourism town which means there are new people using this road all the time. I'd like to thank everyone who's keeping me informed of the situation. I am monitoring this road very closely.”