COUNCILLORS are celebrating after plans to introduce 20mph speed signs on a busy stretch of road outside a school were approved.

Flashing advisory speed limit signs will be put up outside Kingston Primary School, in Church Road, Thundersley, after a four-year campaign, which has seen kids at the school install advisory signs in a bid to slow down drivers.

The work, which will cost about £7,500, was approved by Castle Point Local Highways Panel last week and Essex County Council has confirmed it will be completed by the end of the week.

Signs have already been introduced at Holy Family Catholic Primary School and Kents Hill Infants and Juniors, in Kents Hill Road, with Robert Drake Primary School next in line.

Colin Riley, Conservative councillor responsible for environment and street scene, has been working alongside fellow councillor Bill Dick for a number of years to get the plans passed.

He said: “This is great news for children at the school and parents as well. We have had concerns for a while.

“We want this at as many schools as possible.”

The scheme will see two flashing signs on Church Road and a sign in each of the two adjoining side roads.

Ray Howard, chairman of the Highways Panel at Castle Point, said he was pleased the plans had been approved.

He added: “The fact of the matter is speed kills.

“Outside schools it is so important that speed is restricted and we mustn’t have a situation where speed is the cause of a fatality or a serious injury.

“Therefore, I welcome the introduction of speed signs and people must realise they are going past a school.”

An Essex County Council spokesman said: “An advisory 20mph speed limit in the form of flashing signs, as approved by the Local Highways Panel, will be placed in the vicinity of the school.

“This will alert motorists that an advised 20mph should be adhered to in this location. The works are scheduled to be completed by the end of February.”