COUNCILLORS heard a plea to make roads in Stanwix safer at a meeting this week but refused to be drawn into “a knee-jerk reaction.”

Cumbria County Council’s Local Committee for Carlisle was held on Wednesday and members heard speeches from two residents of Stanwix, raising road traffic concerns.

The appeals for action were made following a fatal road traffic collision.

In his speech, member of the new Cumberland Council for Stanwix Urban, Brian Wernham said: “In the week before the local elections recently, Stanwix residents witnessed a terrible road incident which resulted in a driver being airlifted to intensive care in Newcastle.

“Sadly Cumbria Police confirmed that he died on May 12, and I’m sure that I can say our thoughts are with his family and friends and all that witnessed the incident.”

READ MORE: Neil Errington confirmed dead after crash on Stanwix Bank

The incident took place at the traffic lights in Stanwix above Eden Bridge which provides the gateway from the city to Stanwix Conservation Area.

Councillor Wernham describes the conservation area as a series of narrow thoroughfares designed for pedestrians, horses and cars. Little changes can be made to the road layout in a conservation area.

Cllr Wernham said: “In addition to the fatally injured driver, a Trinity School student could have been working along the footpath or waiting to cross the road. Parents could have been pushing a pram with a baby.

“Any Stanwix resident could also have been killed or terribly maimed in the incident.

“I’m proposing today that the committee should ask the county council officers to prepare a paper outlining the options for the Stanwix Conservation Area to be urgently put under a 20 mile per hour speed limit.

READ MORE: First look at 92 homes approved for Currock Yard in Carlisle

He also proposed that the options paper include a buffer zone of 100 metres on the approach, allowing space for traffic to slow naturally from 30 miles an hour before encountering “the 28 traffic danger hotspots which pepper the Stanwix Conservation Area.”

Cllr Wernham said: “Let’s do it before someone else is injured or worse.

Tracy Harris-Williams, a resident of Stanwix Bank also spoke at the meeting. She asked if the safety railings on the middle crossing “which were totally annihilated in the recent incidents, going to be reinstated.”

Chairman Cyril Weber gave the committee’s response to the plea: “Road safety is a priority for this local committee and where there are concerns it is taken very seriously.

“At the present time the police are continuing to investigate the causation factors in relation to the recent incident you refer to on Stanwix Bank.

“It is therefore considered at this time that no knee jerk reactions are made as a result of a collision that is not fully understood at this time.”

In response to the residents Ms Harris-Williams’ concerns, Cllr Weber said that the railings on Stanwix Bank that have been damaged will be restored in due course.