Villagers are pressing Oxfordshire county councillors to cut the speed limit on the main road through the village.

The council is considering speed restrictions and traffic calming measures for Minster Lovell, including a 50mph speed limit on the B4047 Burford Road. However, more than 50 people from the village's Little Minster have signed a petition calling for this to be reduced to 40mph.

Residents of Minster Lovell stare at the cars passing through the village

Residents' spokesman William Pack said: "This road has a very dangerous and slow staggered crossroads by the White Hart without a turning lane and we consider a maximum speed of 40mph essential.

"Many accidents have occurred here and there have been several deaths, including a motorcyclist at Easter. It is the only crossroads on the B4047 which does not have a turning lane.

"It is heavily used and will be considerably more so when the new Brize Norton housing and industrial development is complete as there is no western slip road to the A40."

Residents are also concerned that the 50mph will cover the first part of School Lane before it becomes 30mph, although they have welcomed changing the 40mph limit to 30mph along Brize Norton Road.

Residents will put their case to the highways sub-committee when it meets on May 24.

The council's area engineer, Colin Carritt, said: "We have taken a lot of trouble over the alterations to the speed limit. We are recommending a 50mph limit on the B4047 as we do not believe a 40mph limit would be tenable.

"We are planning a number of traffic calming measures which should help to slow motorists down. We are aware that there have been several nasty accidents on that stretch of that road.

"We have set the 30mph limit just inside School Lane so people can see the signs more clearly as they turn into the road."

**Picture: George Reszeter