Crash hotspots to be redesigned in transport plan

A busy junction where an elderly pedestrian was fatally struck and a boy knocked down and injured will be redesigned later this year as part of a £1m plan to improve safety.

A major campaign to transform the Spital crossroads near the Three Stags Pub in Wirral, Merseyside, has seen some residents saying crashes occur on a near-daily basis.

There have been repeated calls for changes after William Horne, 84, was killed and Thomas Willemsen was seriously injured on the way to school in 2020.

Ahead of a Wirral Council meeting on 10 March, the local authority has published its plan to improve road safety in the borough.

The plan, which would be funded by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, is subject to being rubber-stamped by councillors.

They are also expected to approve nearly £7m on improving roads across the borough.

This includes an extra £1.7m of pothole funding from the government.

A total of £1m is set to be spent by March 2027 on schemes to reduce collisions.

A "known crash hotspot" on Leasowe Road and Cross Lane in Wallasey, Wallasey Road in Liscard and the Broadway Roundabout in Bebington are included in the programme.

Councillors are also expected to carry out investigations at a "death trap" junction in Oxton between Palm Hill, Palm Grove and Ball's Road, with changes set to be delivered by March 2028.

Oxton councillor Allan Brame previously said people are "quite used to having collisions on a regular basis" there and that he knew of two cars that had flipped over in crashes.

Residents have described it as a "scary junction" where "you are risking life, limb and death crossing".

Meanwhile speed reduction measures – including speed bumps – could be introduced at Waterpark Road in Prenton, Eastham Village Road and Ferry Lane in Eastham, Tollemache Road in Claughton, and Pensby Road in Pensby.

About £300,000 has also been set aside to create footpaths in Bebington by March 2027.

A total of £1m is also going to be spent improving footways, upgrading street lights and tackling weeds in Wirral.

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