National Highways: M5 Traffic Management

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 10th November 2026 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Gentleman for bringing forward the debate. He is right to refer to the strategic importance of the M5 in Somerset. My Strangford constituents and I have similar issues with the Ballynahinch bypass. Does he feel that it is time for the Minister and the Government to look at these strategic issues by constituency? That would enable him to take forward his project and solve the problems that he clearly has in his constituency.

[Sir Ashley Fox]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for making that point. Later in my speech, I will come on to the point about taking a more nuanced approach across the network.

Delays and diversions affect workers attempting to reach their employment, parents collecting children, businesses dependent on deliveries, patients travelling to urgent medical appointments and emergency services attempting to move across the county. I want to share a letter from my constituent Ms Halliday, who has given me permission to share her personal and distressing experience of these delays. She writes:

“The last time the motorway was shut, I was stuck for 3 hours in the car. This may sound trivial but I am disabled & have health issues, including having to be close by toilets. I also have a disabled son, who is non-verbal autistic & who cannot comprehend why we are stuck in the car for long periods, and a few times he has wet himself. My daughter has also had countless late days at college over the last year or so, which is very stressful. Altogether, this has had a major effect on my stress levels & mental health over the last 2 years.

As I write this email, once again the M5 is shut, causing horrendous traffic through town. My son rides the special education bus from school, and the driver has just phoned to say she has no idea when she will make it to school to collect my son. He is now stuck in school for the time being, as it would be pointless to go and collect him as I would be stuck in the same traffic & wouldn’t make it any sooner.

Update, my son returned home over 2 hours late tonight.”

It is because of emails such as these that I asked for this debate. Is the Minister confident that National Highways is doing everything possible to minimise disruption on the M5? Are scheduled closures being planned in the best way? Are policies in place to minimise the number of accidents? Have the Government considered variable speed limits, such as those on the M5 around Bristol? Many of my constituents have commented on the poor driving skills of some motorway users. Has the Minister any plans to monitor and improve the situation?

When an accident does occur, we need to consider the harm caused to the communities affected by motorway closures. Over recent years, central reservations on many motorways have been replaced with continuous concrete safety barriers. The barriers have important safety benefits, and I am not advocating reversing that decision. However, those barriers have reduced the flexibility available to operators responding to major incidents. Traditional contraflow arrangements are often more difficult to implement than they once were. Will the Minister consider whether a more locally tailored approach is required for Somerset?

One option that my constituents have asked be considered is the installation of strategically located crossover points within central reservations, with gates that can be opened by the emergency services as routine maintenance and upgrade programmes are undertaken. These crossing points would allow controlled contraflow operations during major incidents, enabling traffic to bypass closures and remain on the strategic road network rather than being diverted on to local roads. I am not pretending that such a proposal would eliminate the effects of serious incidents, nor would it remove the need to prioritise personal safety, but it would provide the highway authorities and emergency services with an additional operating tool, helping to maintain traffic flow while reducing the pressure on communities such as those in Bridgwater and North Petherton.

More broadly, I urge the Government to examine whether the current traffic management policies adequately reflect local circumstances. I underline that neither I nor my constituents underestimate the challenges facing the emergency services, National Highways or those responsible for managing serious incidents. Public safety must always come first. Where collisions occur, where lives are at risk or where vulnerable individuals require assistance, every appropriate resource should be deployed. Those who work to ensure the safety of all who use our infrastructure should be commended for their work, but recognising those realities does not prevent us from asking whether the current system is striking the right balance between safety and the interests of communities that depend on the motorway.

When the effects of motorway closure are so keenly felt by the community at large, there needs to be a more proportionate approach to managing people in crisis. Emergency services should balance their duties to those in crisis and to those who suffer when the motorway is closed, and their primary duty should be to reopen the motorway as soon as possible. To facilitate that, a wider review of guidance and protocol as to how the emergency services conduct intervention is necessary.

My constituents are suffering gridlock caused by the increasing number of closures of the M5. I ask the Minister, on behalf of my constituents, to look carefully at the problems that we face in Somerset. Will he work with National Highways and the emergency services to minimise motorway closures and the harm that they cause to our community?