A HIGH-LEVEL meeting is to be held after pleas to make the Hunters Lodge ‘death trap’ junction safer.

Neil Parish, MP for Honiton and Tiverton, has arranged for a meeting between himself and Axminster and Uplyme Parish councils after being contacted by campaigner Joy Raymond.

The notorious A35 junction, at the turning point with Lyme Road near Hunters Lodge Inn, claimed the lives of two elderly holidaymakers on July 10 when their Corsa was in collision with a Renault van.

After the crash, David Parker, owner of Sea Tree House, said: “It is a major road to Lyme Regis and it is a death trap waiting to happen.”

The meeting to discuss the junction will take place at 5pm on Monday, September 16, at the Guildhall in Axminster with members of the public encouraged to attend the meeting to voice their concerns.

Looking ahead to the meeting, Neil Parish said: “There has been a huge amount of public interest in the safety of this road after the tragic loss of life on the A35 and I think it only right and fair that residents are consulted and their views heard before we meet with the Highways Agency.”

Campaigner and businesswoman Joy Raymond, who owns Hedgehog Corner Guest and Accommodation Cottages, said she was pleased local people had the chance to get across their worries regarding the ‘death trap’.

Mrs Raymond said: “I know a lot of people who have had near-death experiences at this junction.

“I am born and bred in this area so know all about the junction, but it just seems it has been getting worse and worse every year.

“We have been campaigning for them to change the road to make it safer, but they just keep going round and round and have done hardly anything.

“They have painted some red hatching areas and put signs up, but it’s going to take more than a few splashes of paint and a few new signs to make it safer.

“This is a golden opportunity to finally get something done, the only negative is that it has come on the back of such a tragedy.”

She added: “It needs to be made safer.”