Vehicle activated speed signs have been installed on Hookstone Road in Harrogate.

The two signs, which can detect speeding vehicles from a distance of 100 metres, have been attached to lampposts near Oatlands Infant School.

It is hoped the initiative will reduce accidents, congestion and pollution in the area. The signs encourage speeding motorists to slow down by displaying speeds but are not legally enforceable.

Two North Yorkshire councillors funded the signs through their Locality budgets. Each North Yorkshire councillor is awarded £10,000 a year to spend on activities that promote the social, economic or environmental wellbeing of the communities they represent.

Cllr John Mann, a Conservative who represents Oatlands and Pannal, was helped with funding by fellow Conservative Cllr Paul Bilton, who represents Bilton and Nidd Gorge but is also a trustee of Yorkshire Causeway Schools Trust, which Oatlands Infants School belongs to, as well as being North Yorkshire Council's climate change champion.

The signs are part of a long-running campaign to reduce speed limits in urban streets around schools in Harrogate.

It comes after the Oatlands Road Safety and Active Travel campaign for 20mph limits near the numerous schools in the area was rejected by North Yorkshire County Council.

Cllr Mann told the Stray Ferret that he and Cllr Haslam are were "concerned about speeding on Hookstone Road in the vicinity of two local schools; and these vehicle-activated signs are designed to remind drivers of the speed limit and to reduce vehicle speeds".

Cllr Haslam said:

Hazel Peacock and Vicki Evans from Oatlands Road Safety and Active Travel Campaign said:

Estelle Scarth, headteacher at Oatlands Junior School said:

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