The speed limit on an A-road through a Herefordshire village is to be cut from 40 to 30mph.
Herefordshire Council says that no objections were made to consultations on cutting the speed on the A4112 through Leysters, between Leominster and Tenbury, made at the behest of Middleton on the Hill & Leysters Group Parish Council and local ward councillor John Stone.
But though the police’s traffic management advisor did not formally object, they did not support the proposal either, as with much of the village set back from or to one side of the main road, “large sections of the A4112 through the village lent themselves to higher speed travel”, the council said.
“There was also concern raised at the current 85th percentile speeds [a standard measure of enforceability of speed limits] through the village which were deemed to be higher than what is acceptable and enforceable for a 30mph speed limit”.
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For this reason, the police advisor wanted “significant” speed reduction measures in the village, and also monitoring of whether the new speed limit was being stuck to.
The council’s decision notes that recent resurfacing of the road, which closed it to traffic for several days, had introduced “high-profile entry signage with beige/buff road markings, repeater signs with similar markings, and the removal of the centreline to create a ‘narrowing’ effect”.
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It expected that these measures to “lead to at least a moderate reduction in current vehicle speeds”.
Whether they do achieve this will be monitored one year on, the council said, adding: “In the unlikely event that vehicle speeds have not reduced, various additional measures could be considered, such as speed indication devices (SIDs) and additional gateway features”.
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It put the cost of the process, including consultation, signage and road markings, at around £20,000, paid for out of the council’s annual plan with its public realm contractor.
Three months must first elapse from publication of the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) bringing in the change to allow any challenges to it.
The idea had previously been consulted on between 2019 and 2021, but the time to act on this ran out in 2023.
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