Safety works at Fishwick Corner, in Thurston, near Bury St Edmunds, under way – but questions raised as to whether they go far enough

Works to improve safety at a village accident hotspot are due to be complete by the end of the year, but one resident has questioned whether the measures go far enough.

Bloor Homes has confirmed road improvements to create a staggered junction at Fishwick Corner, in Thurston, are under way.

The existing cross roads will be rebuilt as a T junction from New Road, while Barton Road will be diverted to form the new section. Campaigners have long called for changes to the road to make it safer. One of these campaigners, Andrew Ridgeon, said the measures will go some way to making things better, but still fail to address the main issue of speed.

The call for action was sparked by the 210-home Thurston Grange development, which will be by Fishwick Corner. The development was approved on the condition it included the safety works.

A Bloor Homes spokesperson said the improvements are on track and it is working to complete them ‘as swiftly as possible’. They added the junction is due to be operational by the end of the year.

Campaigner and Thurston resident Andrew Ridgeon raised the issue of speed, and said the new junction would not properly address this.

He said speed was the major cause of the majority of accidents, and questioned why traffic calming measures or traffic lights were not considered.

“The problem is people ignore the 40 mph speed limit,” he said.

“Traffic calming measures would help in some form to mitigate that speed, but many people would say the simplistic answer, that would never have cost so much money, was to install traffic lights.

“They’re doing it at Great Barton so there’s no reason they couldn’t have done it here.”

Mr Ridgeon also said he had written to Andrew Cook, executive director for growth, highways and infrastructure at Suffolk County Council to question why traffic lights were not considered, and received an unsatisfactory and vague response.

Suffolk County Council said it has been working with the developers to deliver road improvements around the project, but it ultimately was the responsibility of Bloor Homes to implement them.

A spokesperson said: “It is the responsibility of the developer to design and install the highway improvements which have been secured via the planning process and have to pass required tests to be warranted.

“We have been providing regular updates to the parish council, councillors and residents on the timetabling for the various works.”