'Illegal' 20mph signs come down

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Villagers have been told the signs do not have permission to stay up permanently

Villagers who put up signs urging motorists to slow down to 20mph have been forced to remove most of them.

Whiteshill and Ruscombe parish council paid £1,000 for 15 "20 is Plenty" signs last August due to road safety fears.

Gloucestershire Highways allowed them to stay up temporarily as part of the villagers' anti-speeding campaign.

But residents have been told they are not official signs and only two can stay up outside the local primary school as an advisory limit.

The rest are now lying unused in the garage of parish council chairman John Rogers.

Not legal

"We have the absurdity that we have a village school which people feel they have to drive their children to because they're not happy walking there," he said.

Angie Mason, chairman of the Friends of Whiteshill Primary School, said: "We need to look at this seriously.

"I really feel that no-one is going to do anything unless a child is either injured or killed on this road.

"I think we need to go further, not backwards."

The official speed limit in the village is 30mph.

A statement from the county council said: "While we understand people's concerns, the signs cannot stay up on a permanent basis because they are not legal.

"We have agreed to investigate the possibility of introducing a 20mph limit for the whole of the Whiteshill area, subject to the guidelines being approved by our scrutiny committee."