The campaign for safety improvements to the A258 Deal-Dover road is gathering momentum.

Copies of an 11,000-signature petition, which has been presented to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, have been handed over to the district council and Kent County Council.

District councillors voted unanimously to support the campaign at their annual meeting.

The petition was collected by members of the A258 safety campaign, including members of the Horne family, whose 11-year-old daughter Samantha died in an accident on the road a year ago next Monday.

Deal county councillor Mike Eddy said it was the largest petition he had ever seen presented at County Hall in Maidstone. He gave it to the outgoing chairman, Cllr Leyland Ridings, before the county council’s annual meeting on Thursday.

After the election of new KCC leader Peter Lake, the petition was passed on to the cabinet member for highways, Cllr Keith Ferrin, who said: "We are well aware of local concerns about safety on the A258."

See this week's East Kent Mercury for full story.