VILLAGES in Ribble Valley have seen the biggest increase in speeding offences in East Lancashire according to figures.

According to figures obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by the Lancashire Telegraph show that between October 2018 and 2019 that East Lancashire has seen 30,970 reports of speeding offences on our roads.

That figure has increased by 1,916 in the same period the previous year between 2017 and 2018.

One of the biggest increases was seen in Mellor where reports rose from 113 cases to 2,626, while Osbaldeston (2,237) had 1,060 more cases than the previous year.

Cllr Stella Brunskill, who represents the Mellor ward on Ribble Valley Council said: "I think it is appalling.

"When you look, there are a lot of people using the village as a rat run from work to get from A to B.

"We know speeding is a problem but did not know it was to that extent with the figures.

"We ask children from schools to speak to their parents about speeding and ask them to reduce it.

"There are elderly people and children trying to get across our roads.

"We have put speed humps on some road which has not really worked and we want help from other agencies to reduce it.

"Residents can come to speak for three minutes at our parish council meetings it is always number one item on the agenda.

"Footfall has gone up in the area with more cars on the road especially from the BAE aerospace site and also there are more people and more cars with all the new housing in the area.

"This is a great concern to everybody living here.

"We have lanes for people to walk on and cross the road and if people are speeding then the woman with the pram or the kid has no chance."

Rawtenstall (2,647 - up by 510), Baxenden (449 - up by 437) and Langho (331 - up 319) were also among the other biggest increases.

Meanwhile Cllr Roy Davies, who represents Darwen which was next on the list with 764 offences which was up by 282, says that it is a sign of the times and something has to be done about it.

He said: "I does not surprise me as when I go out every days there are signs of people banging into things all over the place.

"It does strike me that more cameras are used when we don't have police on the streets but we need them to watch it and take action.

"I am just worried about the public safety that should be the prominent thing.

"I have been in Blackburn and they have removed the railings in Audley Range where they have been damaged and nothing else has been put in.

"We are just worrying about cuts.

"I do believe we really have missed a trick with speed cameras.

"They are put in place to catch people but the money they get from that should be put into more police patrols."

Brierfield (379 - up 259), Nelson (405 - up 142), Clayton-le-Moors (239 - up 111) and Blacko (195 - up 104) make up the top 10 in terms of increases.

Meanwhile, Blackburn flies the flag for the most incidents in East Lancashire with 6,787 speeding offences which was down from 6,801 from 2017-18.

Burnley was the next highest with 3,506 which had fallen from 3,740.