ENHANCED road safety zones are to be created with the expected introduction of five new 20mph speed limits.

The five Hambleton schemes will take up the bulk of a £55,000 sum that has been set aside in the county council budget.

Any remaining cash from the fund will be used to develop Safer Routes to School schemes which have still to be identified.

Three of the 20mph schemes - in the Close, Romanby; Station Road, Stokesley; and Hambleton Drive, Thirsk - are likely to be installed this summer.

An experimental scheme has also been agreed for Osmotherley which is likely to be implemented in May or June. Further consultations are to be carried out for the fifth, in Tollerton Road, Huby.

A sixth 20mph scheme could also be developed this year, for introduction next year, in Brompton, outside the primary school, at a cost of around £30,000.