A Cornwall councillor has made a heartfelt plea for millions to be spent on making safe what is now officially the worst accident blackspot in Cornwall. The notorious Plusha junction on the A30 near Launceston claimed the lives of four people between 2023 and 2024 alone.

Cllr Adrian Parsons, the Liberal Democrat councillor for Altarnun and Stoke Climsland, has long campaigned for improvements to be made to the junction. “Too long inaction has led us to the situation we find ourselves in,” he told a meeting of Cornwall Council this week.

He called on the local authority to support the re-evaluation of 2015 plans for a grade-separated junction at the spot. Cllr Parsons said it would involve a business case to secure funding from the Department for Transport and eventual implementation in partnership with National Highways.

He added: “National Highways, by their own admission, have recently stated that Plusha junction has a road traffic collision history which is a matter of concern and the junction in its current form is not of a standard to safely accommodate an increase in turning movements.”

In 2000 it was suggested the best way to solve the problems would be a bridge or underpass, which would have cost £2-million. In 2015 another consultation had plans drawn up at a cost projection of £12-million but again it failed to deliver funding.

“The statistics don’t lie – as we continue to see an increase in traffic coming in and out Cornwall it is by no coincidence that in the early 2000s we had a number of slight accidents with few fatalities,” said Cllr Parsons. “As we entered the next decade and the road became busier, the number of serious accidents began to stack up culminating in four fatal accidents which we’ve recently witnessed.

“At times I’ve questioned myself – could I have done more? There are times I think, have I pursued change too hard? After every event and every time this makes the news I’m contacted by someone different.

“Messages from paramedics who have had to deal with the trauma of being first on the scene, police officers, those from the fire service, retired highways engineers, local people who have lost friends and neighbours and those who have had family members involved all said this cannot continue, which is why we stick to the cause.”

He added: “We hear figures being bandied around about a grade separated junction not being affordable. I find them unbelievable. We’re told the cost benefit doesn’t stack up, yet we’ve never seen one. The Cabinet need to review the initial re-evaluation.”

Cllr Parsons’ speech received a resounding round of applause in the Chamber. His motion was not debated but will go straight to the Cabinet to discuss at a future meeting.

Between 1999 and 2022 there were two fatal accidents at Plusha, with another four between 2023 and 2024. There were also 11 serious accidents between 1999 and 2022 where people required hospitalisation for significant injury; ten of those accidents have taken place since 2013.

The number of accidents at Plusha or its immediate vicinity for 1999-2012 was 29 and from 2013-2024 essentially the same (data for 2023 and 2024 is incomplete) but the number of serious/fatal accidents increased from 10.3 per cent to 48.3 per cent of the total. This can be compared with a negligible accident rate at the Kennards House and Five Lanes grade separated junctions.

In November Lib Dem MP for North Cornwall Ben Maguire said “enough is enough” and stressed that something must be done to improve the junction. Since the most recent fatal crash that month, National Highways has partially closed the dangerous junction with lit cones and new 50mph speed limit signs. This means right turn movements from the B3257 to the A30 eastbound are now restricted.