News

Three villages in the Elham Valley have pooled resources to set up a Speed Watch scheme.

Parish councils in Lyminge, Elham and Stelling Minnis have jointly purchased a Speed Indicator Device (SID) which detects the speed of passing traffic and displays the speed on a large panel for the driver to see.

Complaints about speeding through villages are all too common but traffic calming is expensive and often unsightly. It was also clear to Kent County Council Community Warden, Gary Harrison that this was a problem affecting a number of villages in the Elham Valley.

County Councillor, Susan Carey, suggested the Speed Watch scheme which is supported by Kent Police as a way of dealing with speeding across of a large number of trouble spots. The scheme does not aim to punish motorists but to remind them of the speed limit and encourage safer driving.

Speed Watch is endorsed by Kent Police and they are training the first set of volunteers this Saturday (12 April) at Stelling Minnis village hall.

Susan Carey said, ‘Speed Watch empowers local people to deal with speeding where it matters to them and I hope other communities will follow the lead taken by Lyminge, Elham and Stelling Minnis.’