SCHOOLS on main roads should not automatically be allowed to impose 20mph speed limits, according to a senior council officer.

The Harrogate area committee has asked for the county council policy to be changed so that 20mph speed limits can be brought in outside all schools on main roads.

But the council's director of environmental services, Mike Moore, has recommended that the policy should stay the same.

He said: "A blanket policy to allow the introduction of 20mph speed limits outside of all schools on main roads in the county would take no account of the local factors outside each specific school.

"For example, on some of the major routes and strategic road corridors, it may be inappropriate to introduce a 20mph speed limit. Research has shown that the introduction of a 20mph speed limit by signing alone will reduce speeds by only one mph. Inappropriate 20mph speed limits could also have an adverse impact on the effectiveness of existing speed limits."

At present, the policy states that an assessment should be made of the existing speeds outside the school and an accident history put together.

Priority is given to the sites with the most accidents over the previous three years.

The council's transport and telecommunications services overview and scrutiny committee will hear a report on the issue tomorrow.