COUNCILLORS hope new restrictions across Chorley will help to ensure motorists curb their speed.

Highways chiefs at Lancashire County Council approved plans for Speed Limit Order (SLO) to introduce a number of speed restrictions on various roads within Lancashire and to clarify, simplify and tidy up a number of speed limit orders.

They have been identified to improve the safety and operation of the public highway network and to allow for better enforcement by police.

Among the roads included are schemes for Buckholes Lane in Wheelton, Moss Lane in Whittle-le-Woods, Dark Lane in Whittle-le-Woods, Hoghton Lane in Hoghton and Wigan Lane in Heath Charnock.

Kim Snape, who represents Heath Charnock area, said: “There have been a lot of accidents on that stretch of road.

“We have been speaking to residents and they are waking up late at night after hearing cars crashing into gardens and they have had to replace their fences too after the damage.

“Hopefully it just makes people slow down and make them think about their speed.”

Meanwhile, County Cllr Steve Holgate has also been speaking to local people about the problem.

He said: “Everyone will benefit when it comes into place. We have been getting responses from residents who basically don’t feel safe on their roads.

“Any restrictions on those roads will help the people and we have tried to make sure their voice gets heard.

“By reducing the speeds then it will hopefully bring down the deaths on roads like this one.

“There is research that the deaths do go down when there are more restrictions on the roads.”

Meanwhile Caroline Snowden, a community campaigner in Wheelton and Withnell, is delighted with the new reduced speed limit on Buckholes Lane .

“It is also a great risk to the residents who live on the lane, who have near misses on a daily basis”.