RESIDENTS of a Teesdale village who want a speed limit on the road that runs past their homes are celebrating after 20 years of campaigning.

A 30mph limit will be imposed in Lartington, near Barnard Castle, after Durham County Council approved the move yesterday.

Residents said it was the only village in Teesdale without a speed limit.

The B6277, which connects Barnard Castle with many of the upper dale villages, has a 60mph speed limit.

At the meeting, highways officer Roger Elphick said it had not been easy to justify a 30mph limit until new Government guidance about speed limits came out, which created a presumption of 30mph through villages.

Ian Jerred, of Lartington Parish Council, said: "The result at the meeting was a vindication of all the efforts this council has put in over the years.

"We have been really pleased with the support from the county council and the local MP, and everyone in the village is happy with the outcome.

"This is a village which has seen a resurgence of children in the last five years, and that was one of the main reasons we pushed so hard for a change in the speed limit."

The district councillor for Lartington, Dreda Forster, said: "I am absolutely delighted for the people of Lartington that they have got what they wanted after years and years of campaigning.

"Traffic in Teesdale has increase tenfold in recent years, and cars do travel fast on that road -so, hopefully, this will make the village much safer."

Although no major accidents have taken place over the years, two accidents were recorded on the approaches to village in 1999 and 2001.

In 1988, cricket star Ian Botham crashed into a stone wall in the village after his Ford Granada Scorpio skidded on black ice.

Lartington Parish Council has long campaigned for a speed restriction.

Surveyors from the county council spent a week last autumn analysing the volume and speed of traffic passing through the village.

They found that, of the 10,000-plus vehicles that went through Lartington, almost 70 per cent were travelling faster than 30mph and 12.5 per cent were travelling more than 40mph, with the average speed being 34mph