PLASSEY Street residents have relaunched the ‘20 is Plenty for Penarth’ campaign and called for motorists to slow down on one of the main roads in the town.

They have called for more pedestrian crossings on the road and warned that unless speeding is tackled in the area there could be a fatal accident.

Concerned parents have also warned that schoolchildren crossing the road are at risk, as they struggle to get to the likes of Albert Primary School and Stanwell School.

Other traffic calming measures raised by local residents include a community action speed gun (where motorists are warned about their speed but not prosecuted), speed humps and narrowing the road.

The Vale Council has said that an initial consultation last year showed there was no support for 20mph zones in Penarth, but said that it was currently considering a range of options, including crossings and traffic calming measures, as well as a further consultation in the very near future.

A protest backing the ’20 is Plenty’ campaign saw Plassey Street residents waving placards reading ‘Speed Kills’, ‘Slow Down’ and ‘We want to be able to cross our street safely’ on Tuesday morning.

Following speeding concerns raised by local residents, police have stepped up speed monitoring sessions in the area.

Police monitor the speed of 100 cars and if the amount speeding over 30 miles an hour crosses the 85 percentile on three separate occasions they report their findings to the Vale Council.

Police also have two town centre officers patrolling the area to deter speeding motorists.

There are plans for a pedestrian crossing at the junction with Glebe Street, but local residents say that up to three crossings are needed on the road to address speeding and help people cross the road.

20’s Plenty for Penarth campaign leader Anthony Slaughter said that it would be more cost effective for the whole town to come under the scheme rather than just one road.

“If you have several 20mph zones it can prove very expensive,” he said.

“The equivalent cost of the whole town would be the same as 56 miles of zones.”

He added that 20mph zones would makes speeding worse as motorists would accelerate out of them.

Mr Slaughter, who is also chairman of the environmental group Gwyrddio Penarth Greening (GPG), added: “When we launched the 20 is Plenty campaign we had a lot of public support which ran the same time as the Vale Council consultation.

“I think this road could be the catalyst for the campaign.

“I still get asked on a weekly basis about what is happening to the campaign.

“It’s not just this road that is being affected.”

Jeremy Thomas, who raised the issue of speeding on Plassey Street during a recent PACT meeting with local police and councillors, said that local residents were “fed up” of people speeding on the road parallel to the town centre.

“There was automatic traffic counters on three places on Plassey Street and they were told there was significant speeding in the area, with 50 per cent of cars coming up the hill speeding,” he said

“That translates as more than 3,000 cars speeding every day on Plassey Street.

“It’s not even all just boy racers, there is nothing on this street to slow the traffic down.”

He added: “We don’t want to have to wait for a fatal accident before something is done.

“We want to pre-empt it now and do something about it.”

Plassey Street resident Mike Newman added that crossings were “desperately needed” on the busy road as cars often drove down it very fast.

“There are so many near misses it is terrifying,” he said.

“We shouldn’t be living in fear.”

He described crossing the road as “treacherous” and added that unless something was done “a group of children could be mowed down”.

Concerns were also raised about the increase in people crossing the road when the Penarth heights development was finished.

Cllr Lis Burnett, who represents the St Augustine’s ward, said the Vale council was working with the police to solve the problem of speeding in the area

“The Vale of Glamorgan Council shares the concerns of local residents about speeding in the Plassey Street area of the town,” she said.

“Although a consultation undertaken in 2013 showed there was no initial support for the introduction of a 20mph zones in Penarth the Council's transport, highways and planning teams have continued to work with local residents and with South Wales Police to decide how best we can solve the problem.

“We are currently exploring a range of options including crossings and traffic calming measures and hope to bring forward the first of these for consultation in the very near future.”