A RESIDENT has expressed her frustration after a request for a 20mph speed limit was turned down.

Margaret Pepper, neighbourhood watch co-ordinator for Grosvenor Gardens, Woodford Green, urged Redbridge Council to install measures in her road to combat speeding.

She said the road was becoming a rat-run for motorists travelling to Woodford Tube station and a number of animals have been hit by cars and killed.

Ms Pepper said: "Residents have traffic concerns because drivers take a short cut to the station and it's becoming extremely dangerous."

The 66-year-old said: "They go down Broadmead Road quite quickly, brake suddenly and do a left, before revving up again in Grosvenor Gardens.

"There are always cars parked both sides of our road so if someone stepped into the road they wouldn't see them in time."

Ms Pepper said she walked to see a neighbour yesterday and within the time it took her to walk about 200 yards she counted two vans and seven cars had whizzed by.

Mrs Pepper spoke at a meeting of the council's Area Two committee on Tuesday, July 20, and asked for action.

She was joined by Anne Clarke, 79, who has lived in the road for almost 50 years and she said the problem is worsening.

She said: "The cars come very fast and we've had petitions about it but it hasn't got us anywhere."

Mrs Clarke said she first did a petition 10 years ago and she did another five years ago, calling for measures to be introduced to slow traffic.

She said: "In the last two or three years we've had dozens of animals killed in the road.

"If you are not an animal lover, it could be a child or an elderly person who is killed next."

Ms Pepper said one of her cats, called Squeakers, was run down and killed in the road a number of years ago.

Cliff Woolnoth, lead council officer for the committee, said: "We did receive the petitions.

"We have a lot of schemes to look at and we have to prioritise from our studies. Speeds were not that high (in Grosvenor Gardens) and the number of vehicles were not that high in the peak hours.

"In terms of priorities, it was not a high priority five years ago, it was something like 93 in the list of schemes."

Ms Pepper said: "We are rate payers the same as anywhere else. What would it take to put a 20mph sign up?

"It is typical of local councils and the Government, they seem to just ignore people."

Sgt David Somerville, of the Church End Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: "We have a speed gun, it's a cheap and temporary solution.

"I will send the team down there to see if we can deter a few people that way."