COUNCILLORS have decided to lower the speed limit in Low Valleyfield from 40mph despite officers saying it would be "inappropriate".

Fife Council approved the requests by road safety campaigners to slow traffic down in the village.

Low Valleyfield Community Council asked it to be reduced to 30mph but officers said it would be "inappropriate" and would "not lead to any road safety benefits".

At last week's South-West Fife area committee, a report by Phil Clarke, the lead consultant in traffic management for the area, said locals were concerned about the speed of traffic on Main Street, difficulties in crossing the road to bus stops, traffic noise and "deer carcasses on the road".

But he told councillors: "Basically, our view is that we don't support a speed limit reduction mainly because it won't make any difference to traffic speeds and there isn't a road safety problem that really needs solving."

The community council has argued that the speed limit was previously 30mph in the 1980s but his report said there was "no evidence to support this view and, typically, speed limits are never raised, only lowered".

Mr Clarke said: "They've persisted in requesting a speed limit reduction which they see as a solution but really, in terms of engineering measures, we'd only be looking at intervention if there was a history of crashes and speed limit compliance problems, and that's not the case in Low Valleyfield.

"We haven't got any record of any crashes at all on this road in the last 10 years and speed limit compliance is currently very good, with most people travelling at quite a bit less than the speed limit.

"The key point is if you implement a speed limit reduction which isn't justified, you won't get any degree of compliance and won't actually achieve anything.

"This is something local residents haven't quite grasped. While they may wish to have traffic going by their front doors at a lower speed, a speed limit reduction isn't going to achieve that and won't have any impact on road safety."

A survey in 2016 indicated average speeds of 31-34 mph. He added that the road could be crossed safely and that it would cost £5,000 to revoke the 40mph order and replace the road signs.

However, local councillor Mino Manekshaw said Low Valleyfield was the "only sizeable community in West Fife that has a 40mph speed limit" and that the number of crashes weren't considered when residents in nearby Torryburn had asked for and received a cut in the speed limit there.

He said police were "very supportive" of reducing speed in Low Valleyfield and that if residents had asked consistently for it to be lowered, the speed limit should be lowered.

His amendment, saying that the limit should be cut to 30mph, was accepted by the committee.