SPROSTON Parish Council is determined to keep battling for further speed limit reductions through the village, after Cheshire West and Chester Council announced a drop from a 60mph limit to 50mph along the A54.

The new speeds will be imposed between Centurion Way and Sproston, where the limit drops to 40mph towards the motorway roundabout.

Council members say the limit is not adhered to through the village, and have long been campaigning to introduce a 30mph zone past the houses that line the road.

Alan Hartopp, Sproston Parish Council clerk, said: “We initiated it – it came about from a few instances whereby there were a couple of near misses on the road.

“People aren’t going at 40mph through the village. The bow wave coming off these lorries has be experienced to be believed, really – they go so fast.

“A lady with a mobility scooter was coming along the path, which is barely a metre wide, and it came by so near that she lost control and ended up in the road. Fortunately the scooter stayed upright.”

Mr Hartopp also described a further incident where a farmer herding cows across the road encountered a near-miss with a lorry.

He says the council spoke to Cheshire West and Chester Council and highways representatives, looking to find a solution to the perceived speeding issue.

While it is a government directive to operate a 30mph limit through villages, Sproston does not meet the criteria as it has 19 houses within 600m rather than the requisite 20.

Mr Hartopp added: “We thought it needed a 50mph limit and so we approached the highways department to do it.

“There is also the increased traffic that we are threatened with, with the Ansa site and then the possibility of 500 houses. All of this has really pushed us along to get something done.

“At least if it’s 50mph the lorries coming up the hill should be doing 50mph rather than 60mph, and it will then reduce to 40mph through the village and more will comply.

“We haven’t given up on getting the village down to 30mph.”