MOTORISTS are still speeding on a road outside a school campus almost a decade after traffic calming measures were introduced.

Residents in Whinfield have asked police and councillors to tackle issues of speeding in Salters Lane South and Barmpton Lane.

Their concerns were raised at Whinfield's first Partners and Communities Together meeting, a Durham Police initiative for residents to talk about local matters with members of the emergency services and councillors.

The Whinfield meeting, which combined Darlington's two Haughton council wards, was dominated by speeding, motorcycles and anti-social behaviour problems.

Salters Lane South, in Haughton West, runs past the Education Village site. It features traffic calming measures, including chicanes and bumps, introduced a decade ago after a 12-year-old girl died on her way to a youth club.

Ward councillor Nick Wallis said before the work the average speed of the road was measured at more than 40mph. That dropped to below 30mph afterwards.

Following the outcome of this week's meeting Coun Wallis said: "Salters Lane South is a very good example of if a driver is not bothered about the risk he or she poses to the community or indeed themselves, and aren't interested in the damage to their vehicles, they can race to high speeds in built-up areas on almost any road.

"For the vast majority of drivers, the excellent traffic calming scheme is a mental prompt which reminds them that speeding here is not only illegal but effectively constitutes anti-social behaviour.

"A few are prepared to ignore the obvious, however."

Councillor Veronica Copeland, whose Haughton North ward covers Barmpton Lane, said speeding had been a problem in the past, when drivers had crashed cars into residents' gardens.

She said work had been carried out to improve the road design and extra police patrols had resulted in fines and criminal proceedings against speeding drivers.

She has invited highways officers to a residents' meeting to discuss what measures could be implemented.

Durham Police is one of only two forces in the country not to use fixed speed cameras, although it does use mobile units. At the moment there are three locations in Darlington on its list of mobile camera areas.

As a result of the meeting, councillors have requested more monitoring.

Inspector Gordon Scott, from Darlington police, said complaints of speeding would be followed up.