Criticism grows over road closure

The section of the A5 will close before the bank holiday weekend

A council has expressed concern about the indefinite closure of a 1km stretch of the north Wales A5 from Friday.

The road between Ty Nant, Denbighshire, and Dinmael, Conwy, shuts at 2100 BST and may not reopen for months.

A local MP and a farming union have joined businesses in criticising the move, while Denbighshire Council said it was not consulted on the closure.

The assembly government said there was a "high risk" of a rock fall, which could lead to a fatality.

Local businesses have already criticised the closure along one of the busiest tourist routes past Llangollen in Denbighshire and onto Holyhead on Anglesey.

Local traders have voiced concerns that delays and diversions could discourage visitors.

We urge the assembly to resolve this worrying situation as soon as possible Arthur Roberts, FUW

Denbighshire council said it was only made aware of the decision to close the road through calls to the Trunk Road Agency.

Councillor Eryl Williams, cabinet lead member for the environment, said: "This closure could have significant implications to local business and the local community at large, and we are concerned that a such problem was not raised earlier.

Mr Williams said the council was working on local diversions which might lessen the impact on local communities.

However, a spokesperson for the assembly government said the council had been contacted shortly after the assembly itself had been made aware of the situation.

He said: "As soon as we were informed of the situation, we put in place an extensive communications process which included Denbighshire council.

"We telephoned the local authority and sent written details explaining the situation."

David Jones, Conservative MP for Clwyd West, has also written to assembly Transport Minister Andrew Davies and Welsh Secretary Peter Hain, asking for clarification of the scale of the engineering problems.

'Permanent solution'

In the letter, Mr Jones said it was "absolutely essential" that the road remain open and that "any closure should be for the minimum possible period".

Meanwhile, Arthur Roberts, Denbighshire chairman of the Farmers' Union of Wales (FUW) said: "It's the major route for delivering food and other essential items to our farms, as well as other local businesses in the area."

The transport minister Andrew Davies said the decision to close the road had been taken after an extensive programme of investigation over several years.

He said: "The risk assessment concluded that we have now reached a point where there is an unacceptably high risk of a rock fall leading to a fatality even with just one lane open and all practical mitigation measures in place.

Mr Davies said officials were working on a "permanent solution" to the problem.

He said under normal circumstances the process could take "several years" but although it was not possible to provide a "definitive statement" on when the road could be reopened, officials were exploring ways to reduce the timescale.

He added: "Measures are also being considered to minimise the impact of the closure."

Options included re-opening the old A5 to restricted traffic.