Warwickshire County Council: Under-fire cabinet member to be grilled over secret sign-off of controversial crossroads call

Councillor Jennifer Warren (Reform UK, Hartshill & Mancetter) is in charge of the county’s highways and has to give the final green light to any planned changes to roads or paths that Warwickshire County Council take care of if officers – the council’s employed professionals – are unable to satisfy objectors.

On Friday, April 24, Cllr Warren was primed to sign off a new set of traffic lights at the collision blackspot at Fillongley crossroads, Fillongley.

At her discretion, a public-facing meeting was held to hear five public speakers, which included representatives of the parish council and the county’s ward member Councillor Scott Cameron (Restore Britain, Coleshill South & Arley). Another seven objectors were present.

Cllr Warren stated she would be signing off the project in line with officer recommendations but then opened the floor to questions from speakers and other naysayers.

She lost control during an additional 25 minutes in which her own leader Councillor George Finch (Reform UK, Bedworth Central) was interrupted while speaking, Cllr Warren said for a second time that the decision would stand and unhappy residents vowed to take their protest to the roadside.

Half of the objectors had filtered out of the room by the time Cllr Warren declared her partial U-turn, postponing the decision until Monday (April 27).

There was no further update until it was signed off on Wednesday, April 29, at the stroke of a pen and without a further meeting being called, something Cllr Warren has the scope to do provided she is not going against the recommendation of council professionals.

County councillors do have a last-chance saloon in which to challenge such decisions with Cllr Cameron triggering the ‘call-in’ process this week.

While that in itself was no surprise, the unusual element is that it was also signed up to by the leaders of every political group on Warwickshire County Council other than Reform UK, Councillor Sarah Boad (Lib Dem, Leamington North), Councillor Adrian Warwick (Con, Fosse), Councillor Jonathan Chilvers (Green, Leamington Brunswick), Councillor Sarah Feeney (Lab, Benn) and Councillor Luke Cooper (Restore Britain, Studley) forming a united front to question the decision.

It is argued that there has not been enough consultation with residents and that the decision has been taken without adequate accident or collision data being provided. Cllr Warren’s signing of the decision behind closed doors, having initially committed to justifying it in public view, has also been questioned.

At the time of the original decision, Warwickshire County Council declared 29 unresolved objections, although Fillongley Parish Council remains unhappy that a 161-strong petition has been crunched down to one of those.

One of the biggest arguments against is that signalled-controlled traffic could force lorries to pass each other further down a road that is not wide enough to accommodate vehicles of that size, creating a situation where HGVs must either mount the pavement or wait with the subsequent tailbacks blocking the junction.

It is also argued that alternatives are being dismissed because the council is too fixed on the fact that the funding for this, available because of HS2, means it must by completed by the end of March 2027.

The call-in will be heard by a special meeting of the communities overview and scrutiny committee on Tuesday, May 19 (2pm).

The panel will run the rule over the decision, how it was taken and the relevance of the objections before deciding whether to make any alternative recommendations to Cllr Warren or take no further action.

Its powers are limited to asking Cllr Warren to reconsider and if that is the case, she will convene a fresh decision-making session but still has the freedom to dismiss the panel’s recommendations if she sees fit.

Cllr Warren has been approached for comment.