A COUNCILLOR who made an urgent plea for the speed limit to be reduced in Carnock said it would be "catastrophic" if a car hits a child at 30mph.

Sam Steele, who represents the West Fife and Coastal Villages, wanted it cut to 20mph on Main Street after two "near-misses" within six weeks.

But, despite tabling an urgent motion at a South and West Fife area committee meeting in November, she feels progress has been far too slow.

Cllr Steele said: "A five-year-old boy nearly got run over on his way to school with his family.

"The speed that cars are coming down into Carnock, very few are doing 30mph or under so, while it was a near-miss, it could easily have been much worse.

"Just before the area committee, I heard about a second incident, with a slightly older child but a very similar situation where a car just missed them.

"It is really concerning. A car hitting a child at 30mph would be catastrophic.

"We're all well aware of previous incidents happening in other parts of Fife and we don't want anything like that to be repeated."

She continued: "There is proposed work in the offing for traffic signals to be upgraded at Carnock Bridge, just outside the school and a new pedestrian crossing.

"This has been fully agreed but it's paused while there are conversations with the school and PTA about some issues around it.

"I'd asked if I could put in an urgent motion, that was in November, and what I asked for was the speed limit to be reduced from 30mph to 20mph as part of the work plan that's already agreed, given the fact there had been two near-misses within six weeks.

"Transportation officers were going to explore it and feed back, I'd hoped something would come to the January meeting but, clearly, nothing did.

"Hopefully, it will come to the next committee meeting and we'll find out what they're going to do.

"It sounds like they're just sticking to the national strategy, and that no 30mph limits will be lowered until assessments are done. But I can't see why it can't be done with the work that's already planned."

Head of the council’s roads and transportation service, John Mitchell, said: “20mph zones are already in place in many residential streets across Fife.

“This summer, Crail is due to become our first completely 20mph village, where the speed limit on the A917 will be reduced as part of a trial to see if drivers will slow down and comply with a new limit.

“Nationally, Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government are working with local authorities to develop a 20mph strategy for Scotland.

"Fife Council is contributing to this and we’re looking forward to the outcomes which could help ease implementation of applications in the future.

"The A907 through Carnock will form part of this assessment.”