PLANNING bosses have been accused of having double standards over failing to act on long-running appeals to reduce a road’s speed limit - just days after they agreed to drop one elsewhere to ‘suit their own agenda’.
At the last planning board meeting, members agreed to drop a 40mph limit to 30mph as part of a controversial new roundabout scheme at Darton in order to access a former green belt site known as MU1.
Coun David Greenhough, who represents the Penistone East ward, is furious the same consideration has not been given to a campaign for a lower limit along the A628 in Millhouse Green - which runs by the village’s primary school.
It is the only school to have a 40mph zone in Barnsley, with most being subject to half its limit to boost safety.
Along with other councillors, he is backing a campaign launched by villagers - 30 For A Reason - but Barnsley Council bosses have repeatedly refused to implement the scheme.
Coun Greenhough said: “It turned out that highways can produce a lower speed limit for their own projects, but for schoolchildren they can’t.
“It was agreed to reduce an existing 40mph limit to 30mph at a stroke and it was said that roundabout guidelines dictated the reduction.
“They have kept telling us for nearly 20 years that there is no evidence to support a drop at Millhouse Green so there are double standards at play here. I raised this at the planning meeting and I am really annoyed about it.
“How can they pull this out of thin air for a roundabout yet not for a primary school? I have not had a satisfactory answer, but this won’t go away.”
Just a couple of weeks ago, the village’s campaign was chosen by national road safety charity Brake to front its part in the annual road safety week.
At the moment, residents are waiting to see details of a £1.4m council-led safety scheme along the A628 before highways bosses decide on what - if any - further action is required.
There have been two speed reports commissioned in Millhouse Green one in April 2015 and another in June of this year.
The most recent recorded 19,036 vehicles over a 48-hour period and found 13 per cent of motorists broke the limit, which equates to 2,542 separate traffic offences.
Directly outside the school gates on Lee Lane, the highest recorded speed was 66mph.
Lead campaigner George Reid added: “Millhouse Green suffers from a speeding problem,” said George. “A 40mph A-road runs through the village, which frequently sees heavy lorries and local boy racers travel dangerously fast on it.
“This is particularly dangerous because the road also connects to a primary school, putting children crossing the road at real risk of being involved in a crash.
“This makes it the only 40mph single-lane road outside primary school gates in the Barnsley borough.
“We are determined to get the speed limit on the road changed to 30mph, as we hope this will prevent tragic deaths and serious injuries of schoolchildren.”
