A 20mph speed limit and traffic calming measures are needed along St Helen's Wharf to East St Helen's Street, Abingdon, says the town council.

Residents living in Wilsham Road, near the junction with St Helen's Wharf, have complained about traffic exceeding the 30mph restriction and ignoring the one-way system over the River Ock as it enters The Thames under the old iron bridge near Mill Lane.

Councillor Mike Badcock said he supported the idea of imposing a 20mph limit along the road leading into East St Helen Street near the church. It would join a 20mph zone proposed for streets in central Abingdon when new traffic measures came into operation with the integrated transport proposals.

He said: "At the moment St Helen's Wharf can be a dangerous area for pedestrians, whose safety is put at risk by speeding cars and other vehicles, some of which ignore the one-way system. Something needs to be done to make this area a safer environment."

To make a 20mph zone effective traffic calming measures would be needed, such as chicanes or narrowing the width of the road.

Road humps are not favoured by the council. Council leader Julie Mayhew-Archer said work needed to be done to ensure an effective system was put in place. "County council officers support the idea in principal but a considerable amount of work has to be done to make sure that a 20mph limit could be enforced. We should beware of doing such schemes piecemeal without taking into account the overall plan for traffic measures in the town," she said.

Mr Badcock's call for a 20mph zone from the junction of Wilsham Road along St Helen's Wharf into East St Helen Street won the support of the mayor Keith Hasnip and was approved by the council that will press the county council to investigate a scheme.