Dual the A5 campaign: Minister sympathetic during talks to plight of motorists

North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson, who met with the secretary of state to discuss transport issues, said the campaign to dual the A5 north of Shrewsbury was top of the agenda.

Mr Paterson said the talks with Mr Grayling were very positive.

The MP, who has been battling to see the trunk road dualled for several years, is firmly in favour of the Shropshire Star's Dual It campaign which called on roads minister, John Hayes, to include the road from Montford Bridge to the Welsh border in the Road Investment Strategy.

He said: "The talks with the secretary of state were very positive. While he could not give any promises he was very sympathetic to the problems that we have on the A5.

"I told him about both the dangers of the road and also the economic benefits of having a dual carriageway and said that it was imperative that the A5 be including in the Road Investment Strategy.

"There is no plan on the table at the moment so this is our chance to get the improvements."

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Mr Paterson said that the improvements and dualling the trunk road could be done in one of two ways.

"The government could look at dualling it in slices or doing the entire stretch in one go. It is not a large piece of road," he said.

Shropshire Star readers can help press the ministers and the government to make the vital improvements to the A5.

We have launched a petition that we intend to take to parliament calling for improvements to the 18-mile stretch of the A5. With the exception of the Nesscliffe bypass the road is the only section of single carriageway road between Dover/Folkstone and Holyhead, a key strategic route linking mainland Europe and the UK to Ireland.

We now have more than 3,500 signatures on our online petition and more than 200 print signatures.

But we need more to make a difference. If you have signed then make your friends and family aware of the petition.