A petition signed by more than 1,000 people calling for better speed restrictions on part of the A20 has been rejected by Kent County Council (KCC).

Bearsted residents who signed the online petition last May were concerned with the road as it travels through the village from its junction with Willington Street to the turn off for Junction 8 of the M20.

Currently, the road is 30mph between Willington Street and Lilk Hill, and is 60mph after that.

People living in the area said traffic traveled too fast on both sections and wanted a speed limit imposed on the de-restricted zone, and a speed camera used to enforce it.

Previously, Ashford Road resident John Barrow, created the campaign to stop speeding cars on the route which has been labelled a “danger zone”.

He said: “Every day, I witness speeding cars and lorries zooming through our village at alarming speeds of up to 70mph.”

But KCC’s highway improvements programme manager, Ryan Shiel, said the qualification for a speed camera was that there had been three people killed or seriously injured on the road in the past three years.

One this stretch of road, although there had been several accidents, only one had resulted in serious injury.

Mr Shiel also had data on traffic speeds from three different counts which had been done as part of a wider review along the whole A20 corridor from Maidstone to Lenham.

An automated traffic count in the 30mph section at Lilk Hill had recorded average speeds of 34mph and 32mph going east and west respectively.

A count in the 60mph section at Otham Lane had found average speeds of 42mph and 43mph.

Outside Coolings garden nursery, in the same de-restricted zone, average speeds of 41mph and 42mph were found respectively.

Mr Shiel said Kent Police would only support lower speed limits where there was evidence of the majority of drivers speeding.

In the de-restricted zone, the data showed that far too many drivers would not comply with a 40-limit, perhaps as many as 60,000 drivers a week, so a lower speed limit would not be introduced.

However, he held out two candles of hope to Bearsted residents, saying firstly that KCC was supporting Bearsted Parish Council in starting up a Speedwatch group, and secondly that the village would be included in the wider A20 review already mentioned.

He added KCC would not want to make changes in any one area, without understanding the implications for the wider A20 corridor.

His report to Maidstone Transportation Board was accepted by councillors who largely welcomed the idea of a more comprehensive A20 review.

However, Cllr Val Springett (Con) observed that Mr Shiel had only looked at a 40-limit and ruled it out, whereas the data would have supported the introduction of a 50mph limit, which would at least have been an improvement on 60mph.

She said: “That particular section of the road in front of the Tudor Park Hotel is an absolute racetrack for motorcyclist on a sunny day.”

Bearsted parish councillor Richard Ash added: “What ordinary people cannot understand is that Bearsted goes from de-restricted straight to 30 – why?

“If you drive into Harrietsham on the A20 from the east, you go de-restricted, to 50, to 40, to 30.

“It’s the same motorists that then drive through Bearsted and go from de-restricted to 30.

“People cannot understand why there should be a difference.”

When police carried out a speed check on the 30mph section of the A20 Ashford Road in July 2022, they caught seven speeding motorists in 90 minutes.

One was one doing 68mph in the 30mph section.