Speed limits at the entrance to a dead end alleyway have been branded ‘idiotic’.
Two 20mph signs have been put up at the entrance to Whewell Row, near West End Methodist Church in Oswaldtwistle.
But it’s been claimed the road is barely wide enough for a single car and vehicles could not get near 20mph.
Arthur Haymes, who lives on Blackburn Road, said signs went up recently on roads including Spread Eagle Street, Percy Street and Norman Road.
He said: “The wagon appeared and had about eight or 10 signs on the back of it. I couldn’t believe it when I saw they’d put them up on Whewell Row.
“It’s as if someone has looked at a map and ticked boxes with no consideration at all to the type of road. It’s a cul-de-sac of no more than 70 metres and it’s cobbled part way along - you wouldn’t want to drive 20mph even if you could get up to that speed.”
The signs were included in the latest roll-out of 20mph zones and limits on residential streets across the area by the county council and are at the alleyway’s entrance, where it meets Blackburn Road.
Oswaldtwistle councillor Colette McCormack said the county council had got it wrong and should have consulted residents before putting up the sign.
She said: “You couldn’t get up to that speed anyway. So are they going to leave it there looking idiotic or remove it at more cost?”
She added the money would be better spent on repairing potholes.
But Paul Binks, road and transport safety manager at Lancashire county council, said the signs were necessary as vehicle speeds in residential areas are a concern, with people seven times less likely to be killed if hit at 20mph than 30mph.
He added: “We’re applying the 20mph speed limit consistently in all residential areas so that people know this is the norm whenever they’re in a residential area.
“We’re taking a common-sense approach to the design of the 20mph schemes by not putting signs on every street and keeping signage to the minimum allowed by the regulations.
“We do, however, need to put signs where the speed limit changes from 30mph on a through route such as Blackburn Road to where drivers enter a network of residential roads where the limit is 20mph, which is why we need signs at the entrance to roads such as Whewell Row.”
