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PARISH COUNCIL COULD REDUCE LOCAL SPEED LIMITS UNDER NEW PLANS

The parish council could help reduce the speed limits on local roads under a proposal in a Government document which looks at traffic speeds.

A special task force is being set up by Kent County Council (KCC) to start initial investigations following the publication of the document.

The team will carry out speed surveys and other o­n-the-spot checks to assess all the county's A and B roads. Once this is complete, a full programme of works and costings could be put forward where action is considered necessary.

During consultation o­n the issues, KCC had suggested that the national speed limit for single carriageway roads should drop from 60mph to 50mph. But the government feels that while the national limit should stay the same, local limits should be determined locally. However, this can o­nly be done with the co-operation of Kent Police and in consultation with bodies like parish councils and the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

The door is left open for local highway authorities like Kent to draw up its own criteria based o­n the government's guidance. It is likely that o­ne area of Kent would be selected for an initial trial before further action is considered. KCC could introduce measures including speed limits, interactive 'flashing' signs or physical barriers, or a combination of them.

Chairman of KCC Highways Advisory Board Roger Manning said: "There is increasing pressure in rural areas for traffic speeds to be reduced - the difficulty is how to enforce this.

"The immediate o­nus is o­n motorists to drive at speeds appropriate to the prevailing road conditions, which can change from hour to hour. We want motorists to keep thinking and judge for themselves whether they are within the speed limit rather than relying o­n signs.

"KCC now has a considerable amount of work to interpret the government guidance and assess the current position before we can begin to think about how to implement it."