WREXHAM is to benefit from its share of £8.1m to improve road safety.
The minister for economy and transport, Ieuan Wyn Jones, has announced local authorities will receive a share of the money to allow them to deliver road safety projects including 20mph zones, road safety co-ordinators and educational initiatives.
Wrexham County Borough Council will get £368,000, while Flintshire County Council will receive £435,000.
Mr Jones said: “For Wales as a whole in 2007, the number of people fatally or seriously injured in road collisions was 30% lower than the average for 1994-98, which is good progress towards the 40% reduction target set for 2010.
“It is fair to conclude that the measures introduced by local authorities through the road safety grant have substantially contributed to this casualty reduction.”
He added: “This grant will also allow local authorities to develop more 20mph zones, as promised in our One Wales programme of government. Recent evaluation has shown these zones to very effective at reducing accidents.”
As of August 2008 there were 438 locations in Wales subject to a speed limit of 20mph. An evaluation has shown there were annual reductions of 42% and 40% personal injury collisions and serious or fatal Šcollisions respectively at 273 of those schemes.
The Assembly allocation includes funding for child pedestrian training co-ordinators for each local authority, which are teaching roadside skills to children aged five-seven.
A minimum of 20% of the allocation must be used on education, training and publicity initiatives and the rest can be spent on other road safety projects.
A spokesman for Wrexham council said: “Some of the money will be spent on education and training in schools to promote road safety and some will be spent on road safety engineering, but we are not sure exactly where yet.
“We have to let the Welsh Assembly Government know by June 6 what it will be allocated to.”
