LEAVING Betws by foot is becoming a hazard, claim community councillors who want to see road safety measures installed.

Betws Community Council will be asking County Council officers if crossings can be installed either end of the A474 relief road, which they say are essential to keep pedestrians safe.

At the moment there is no formal crossing system at either the Maesquarre Road end or the Park Street roundabout. This has left shoppers, pensioners and school children waiting for a break in traffic to be able to cross the road to reach Quay Street or High Street.

Betws community councillor Annette Price said the council are concerned about the risk of accidents if something isn’t done.

Said Cllr Price: “There is no where safe to cross at either end of the relief road and these are very busy junctions.

“We have lots of school children walking to the Welsh school and the comprehensive, shoppers going into town and many other people travelling by foot back and forth and yet there is not one safe crossing point.

“Betws is growing, we have a lot of new housing developments, we have two very popular parks on either end of the village, as well as the flower park. We also have a residential home and sheltered accommodation.

“Pedestrians are finding it increasingly difficult to cross at these busy, fast junctions and it’s more luck than judgement that anyone hasn’t been hurt or killed.”

Cllr Price added: “There needs to be some kind of controlled, safe crossing, either zebra, or lights or pelican.

“I know that there are bigger properties for the area but this is something that really should be considered. I think sometimes it feels as if everything stops at the bridge. That saying Y Byd a’r Betws (Betws and the World) certainly feels true at the moment.”

Road Safety and Traffic manager for Carmarthenshire County Council, John McEvoy, said they will be contacting the Cerith Griffiths, Clerk of the Community Council, to seek clarification of the requests and county transport officers will visit the site to consider the engineering feasibility of providing such crossing facilities at these locations.

But he added: “There are no proposals in the 2015-16 financial year to provide new controlled crossings, zebra or pelican, on the A474, at its junction with Maesquarre Road or on the approach to the roundabout junction with Park Street, Betws.”