A PARISH council has welcomed support from a leading rural organisation in its battle to get speed cameras installed.

Leigh Sinton Parish Council believes cameras would help enforce speed limits on approaches into the village.

The county branch of the Council for the Protection of Rural England this week backed the move for installation throughout Worcestershire.

Parish chairman Caroline Orgee said: "There have been prangs all the way along there because of a combination of problems, but particularly because of the speed of heavy vehicles. You only need someone coming through at an extra 8mph to 10mph and significant accidents happen."

The council has already held discussions with the Highways Partnership to find a solution to prevent accidents along the busy A4103 through the village.

Allan Peach, spokesman for West Mercia police, said the force was working with agencies, including councils, to improve road safety and reduce casualties.

He said: "We share the desire to reduce casualties but we believe that there should be a well informed carefully considered approach to the problem.

"We pursue what we believe to be a cost effective and practical approach to the improvement of road safety across West Mercia. It would be far too expensive and impractical to install fixed-point speed cameras on the approaches to every town and village within the force area. We use portable cameras, which enable us to be flexible in targeting areas where collisions do occur and to make the best use of available resources."

He said the force would continue to work with its partners and invest income from speeding fines in measures to reduce road casualties, in line with Government policy. Measures include investing in more cameras.

CPRE spokesman Rupert Segar said: "The tragic irony is that most traffic accidents in which children are killed or seriously injured occur in 30mph zones. More often than not accidents occur when drivers are exceeding the limit.

"For the past few years West Mercia police have opted to use speed traps instead of fixed speed cameras sited in boxes. The mobile cameras are efficient in raising revenue for the Treasury because they catch people but they are not good at deterring people from speeding."