The speed limit on the A3052, between Newton Poppleford and the Bowd, will soon be lowered to 40mph.

Members of the East Devon Highways and Traffic Orders Committee (HATOC) approved recommendations to reduce the limit on the 950-metre stretch of road at Four Elms Hill from the national speed limit to 40mph on Thursday, July 18.

Between January 2014 and January 2019 there were four recorded collisions that resulted in injury within the area currently subject to national speed limit.

County councillors supported a move to lowering the limit on a stretch of the A3052 between Newton Poppleford and the Bowd in East Devon to 40mph.

In addition to this the double white line markings will be changed, indicating areas where overtaking is prohibited.

The recommendations to change the speed limit will now be advertised in a traffic regulation order and an audit will be carried out before the road markings can be changed.

Recent data shows the majority of motorists are driving at an appropriate speed, with 27.5mph the average speed uphill and 38.3mph downhill.

The committee requested that officers investigate the possibility of introducing speed roundels and high friction surfacing.

District Councillor Val Ranger, who represents Newton Poppleford, said she had been campaigning for the changed on behalf of residents for years.

She added: "The statistics do not reflex the misery it causes most weeks. There is an accident on that hill most weeks but unless there is a serious injury it isn't included in the statistics.

"Around 16,000 vehicles travel through Newton Poppleford everyday so the repercussions when that hill is closed are phenomenal.

"It causes untold misery."

Councillor Stuart Hughes, the chairman of East Devon HATOC and Devon County Council's cabinet member for highways management, said: "While most drivers are driving within the speed limit the committee recognises that speeding remains a concern to local people who live near or on that stretch of road.

"That's why we are looking to extend the existing 40mph speed limit from the Bowd to the boundary of Newton Poppleford and investigating the feasibility of introducing speed roundels and high friction surfacing."