Kent County Council, the highways authority, is in the process of reviewing its Kent Design Guide which sets out how roads should be designed and constructed.

But councillors sitting on the Maidstone Joint Transportation Board were reassured that the new guide will carry forward existing guidance that roads on new housing estates should be designed in such a way as to curtail vehicle speeds to 20mph.

The move did not go far enough for some councillors who asked why KCC was not imposing a 20mph limit on the roads.

District highways manager Susan Laporte said: "There is no policy to introduce speed limits because the roads will be designed to be self-enforcing.

"It seems unnecessary to provide extensive signage and lining."

She said: "If we imposed a 20mph limit, there would be a public expectation that there would be enforcement of the limit by police, but the police do not have the resources to carry out such enforcement."

She argued installing speed limits would also impose additional unnecessary costs on the authority, because the signs would have to be listed for regular inspection and maintenance.

Cllr Brian Clark (Lib Dem for South Ward) conceded that many news estates did force motorists to adopt a lower speed - he cited the Hayle Park estate in Tovil as an example - but he said there was an important safety issue.

He said: "The problem is that a child is far more likely to be killed if hit by a car doing 30mph than one doing 20mph.

"There are still some people who put their foot down and race around these estates - and if they hit a child they should feel the full penalty of the law.

"At present if they had an accident while doing 30 in an estate designed for 20, they would not be breaking the law."

Cty Cllr Rob Bird (Lib Dem Maidstone Central) agreed. He said the costs of signage would be borne by the developer and said the police had a statutory duty to enforce the limits.

Cllr Valerie Springett (Con for Bearsted) rejoined that she could not get police to enforce the 30mph limit on a road in her ward where some motorists travelled at 60mph.

Cty Cllr Shellina Prendergast(Con Maidstone Rural East) said: "You should see some of our rural roads - it's a free for all."

She suggested the best thing was for all councillors to lobby the police to do more enforcement.

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