A road safety protest was held in a Ceredigion village last week, after concerns were raised five years ago, but no action taken.
One of the residents taking part in the protest, Liz Screen, said: “About five years ago I complained to numerous representatives to ask what could be done about cars exceeding the speed limit through Cilcennin.
“I heard a lot of platitudes but not much else. Cables were placed across the road in several places and I was of the opinion that these were checking cars speeding.
“I have recently been informed that all they did was to monitor the volume of traffic and possibly average speed. This would be of no value whatsoever since some drivers travel at 20mph whereas others go through doing 60mph. I was also told that we would be allocated speed guns so that a team of volunteers could monitor the traffic. None of this was forthcoming.”
In October 2019, Liz’s granddaughter and friend, Caoimhe Chambers and Francessca Cooper, designed posters, to be put up around the village, calling on drivers to reduce their speed, after several pets were killed by speeding cars.
The pair also launched a road safety petition, collecting around 50 signatures.
Liz added: “After losing more cats, my granddaughter and her friend took it upon themselves to organise a petition.
“Unfortunately Covid has prevented them from pursuing this course of action – although they worked hard and collected about 50 signatures.”
Liz said another cat was killed on 16 June in exactly the same place as the three previous incidents.
The current speed limit through the village is 30mph, but Liz said cars regularly drive past her house at 50mph. While it would be “great” to get a 20mph speed limit introduced, Liz said residents would be happy if the current 30mph limit was enforced.
Liz said she has contacted Ceredigion council, the community council and county councillor Marc Davies, who passed on her concerns to the police and crime commissioner.
Ceredigion council said: “Mrs Screen contacted the council on 15 June and officers have responded in full in relation to the issues raised. The council has no powers in relation to enforcement of speeding related issues, and Mrs Screen is therefore advised to contact the police regarding any concerns she has in relation to speeding within the village.”