Residents in Summerseat are calling on Bury Council to include two roads which are used as a “rat run” to the motorway in a consultation to establish a 20mph zone across the village.

Campaigners are calling on Railway Street and Waterside Road to be included in the council’s StreetSafe initiative, which aims to improve safety and reduce accidents.

They say the bulk of speeding in Summerseat takes place on these two roads, as they are used to access the M66 and because the configuration of the road allows drivers to reach speeds of more than 30mph.

The council says priority is being given to streets near to schools, or where there is problems with through-traffic.

In Summerseat, it is proposed to establish a signed 20mph speed limit.

Peter Winsche, chairman of the Summerseat Village Community group, said: “The scheme is a good thing, but they have missed out half of the village, where speeding is worst. In areas omitted it will just get worse.”

Railway Street resident Dr Caesar Merrifield, a chartered civil engineer, said: “It is bewildering that the two roads which are essentially the areas where the speed limit is regularly exceeded — to, at times, a dangerous degree — have been omitted.

“The contention is that once the new 20mph limit is implemented throughout only part of the village, the safety on those roads not included in the scheme will be degraded substantially by drivers travelling faster than they would normally do as a result of being restricted to a lower speed elsewhere.

“The danger to both careful drivers and pedestrians will be exacerbated. The fact that the accident rate is so low is testament to the current safety awareness of residents.”

  • Residents in Ferngrove in Bury are being consulted on plans to establish a 20mph zone, with speed cushions in Huntley Mount Road, Thrush Drive, Kingfisher Drive and Ferngrove, and to introduce “dummy” speed cushions on Ferngrove.

Visit bury.gov.uk/streetsafe