Minster parish council has been turned down after handing in a petition for a speed camera in Chequers Road outside St George’s Primary School.

Resident Bob Back wants a camera to catch motorists who drive too fast past the school gates and started the petition in October which gained 189 signatures.

During last summer, the village's Community Speedwatch volunteers recorded 55 drivers in an hour breaking the 30mph limit on that stretch of road.

Mr Back said: "The new pedestrian crossing appears to have made little difference to the many motorists who continue to ignore the speed limit near St George's School."

The parish council sent the petition to the Kent and Medway Safety Camera Partnership.

Clerk Trish Codrington said: "We also pointed out that an existing camera near the junction with Plough Road is no longer fit for purpose because parked cars there now naturally slow down traffic.

"We fully support the call for a new camera and so does our MP Gordon Henderson."

But this week the council heard its request had been turned down.

Hayley Dawson, the camera partnership's project and communications officer, said safety cameras were used only where there was evidence of excess speed and a history of speed-related fatal or serious injury crashes and said there had been no reported serious injuries in the three years from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2017.

She said: "Therefore, it does not meet the minimum intervention criteria.”

She added: "I have also looked at the data for slight injury crashes on that section of road and found no evidence of excess speed as a causation factor. Driver inattention and close-following appear to be the theme."

She said speeding should be reported to police by dialling 101.

The camera near the water tower is to be upgraded to digital this year.

She told the council: "We will look into the suitability of its position at this time. I am sorry this isn't the answer you were hoping for."

Her reply will be discussed by the council's planning and transportation committee on Thursday, February 1, at 7pm at its offices in Love Lane.