Slower speed limits are being introduced at the edge of two Herefordshire villages.

A 40mph stretch west of Newtown Cross, on the main A4103 between Hereford and Worcester, is being extended westwards. And a 30mph section of Kings Road leaving Orleton in the north of the county is being extended northwards.

The Newtown Cross move is backed by a consultation held two years ago, during which no objections were raised by either the police, the parish council, the ward councillor or the public.

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Indeed it was the parish council which proposed the extension, due to the “very high” speeds at which vehicles approached the village, and visibility issues with the current signs.

Four accidents occurred on the road between 2016 and the start of the consultation, and councillors said residents had anxieties about entering and exiting their properties by car, and crossing the road on foot.

Following police concerns over how well the new 40mph limit would be adhered to, it is now being accompanied by “high profile yellow backed signage, repeater signage and road roundels”, the council’s decision said.

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Visibility of the upcoming village to drivers arriving from the west is also to be improved. The total cost of the exercise, including the consultation, will be around £11,500.

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Meanwhile a similar process was undertaken last summer in connection with a new residential development to the west of Kings Road, Orleton, when again, no objections were made to extending the village’s 30mph zone north of the village primary school.

In this case, the roughly £15,000 cost is being met by the new estate’s developer as part of a deal with the council.

Both officer decisions were made in late July but have only just been published on the Herefordshire Council website.