Speed limits in Felpham could be cut

The pledge to look at bringing in a 20mph speed limit or a 20mph zone was made at a packed meeting of concerned residents.

County highways officer Ian Moorey said the investigations would take place in response to the public's demands before any money was available to implement the agreed scheme after widespread consultation.

But no installation work would be carried out until 500,000

was received from the developers of the 700 homes on Site Six in the north of the parish.

"I must be honest about this. I can't raise hopes I am going to go away and do things tomorrow," he said. "But the idea is to have the proposals finalised and ready to go for when we do get the money. That will enable us to do things quickly.

"We need to look at what the existing speeds are and talk to the police about the situation. There is no point bringing in an unrealistic limit which people will not take any notice of and which cannot

be enforced."

It is likely to be up to two years before the contributions are received according to a legal deal between West Sussex and Arun councils and the housebuilders.

The total payment will be triggered by the completion of the 150th and 300th properties on the new estate.

Mr Moorey, a safety engineering team leader, was responding to complaints from the 100 or so people who filled Felpham Memorial Village Hall to standing room last Wednesday evening.

Felpham Village Conservation Society chairman Joan Aubrey Jones said he should leave the meeting knowing residents wanted prompt action to tackle the problem of speeding and excessive traffic.

"We are sending Mr Moorey back to his headquarters saying we are not interested in waiting until we have got the money from the developers because we may never get it.

"What we are concerned about is doing something quickly. It could be years and years and years before anything is done. We want it done now."

The meeting was held by the conservation society and attracted comments about the dangers on Limmer Lane and Summerley Lane with their narrow roads and lack of pavement in places even before the extra traffic from the new homes.

The approaching arrival of a Tesco Express store at the roundabout of the A259 Felpham Way/Middleton Road roundabout, despite protests, added to their fears of even more motorists using the side roads to dodge the traffic on the main through route.

The residential roads are subject to 30mph limits, but resident after resident spoke of their safety concerns, particularly about Limmer Lane, because of the number of vehicles and their high speed.

Mike Collins, of First Avenue, spoke for many people when he said: "The biggest problem we have is that people who don't live in Felpham use the village as a rat run."

Another village resident, Leslie Garrett, said the county council was funded by the government for highways works and should carry out improvements without waiting for the contributions from the developers.

Shripney resident Doris Sumpter spoke briefly about her successful campaign '“ featured in the Observer '“ for a speed indicator device on the A29 to try to tackle its level of speeding.

Sergeant Ian Cheeseman, of the Bognor Regis neighbourhood policing team, said his officers were willing to enforce the speed limit.

"In Limmer Lane, there clearly is strong feeling about the speed

of the traffic. The highways department is responsible for deciding whether to put in a 20mph limit. Once that limit is in place, we can enforce it," he said.