CHILDREN'S lives will be put at risk unless proper safety measures are introduced along the Marlow to Bisham road, Bisham Parish Council warned last week.

The council, which is currently in negotiations with the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, wants to introduce a range of measures to improve road safety through the village following a spate of accidents.

But at their meeting on Monday, September 19, councillors became increasingly frustrated with the Royal Borough, which said several of its preferred measures were impractical and could not be implemented.

Councillors say their proposals are essential to improve safety, especially on the Marlow Road, which leads into and from Marlow Bridge.

The council has been earmarked £16,000 from the Royal Borough to spend on safety measures.

At the meeting, Phil Jacob, a traffic officer for the Royal Borough, said several wishes of the parish council were not applicable to the road.

This included looking at the possibility of introducing a 20mph speed limit in the vicinity of Bisham School.

Councillors are concerned that a sharp turn in the road, near the church, is dangerous and can often cause speeding drivers to lose control.

They say a serious accident is just waiting to happen to children walking to school in nearby Church Lane.

Cllr Margaret Cubley said: "Many children and parents walk to and from school along a very narrow stretch of road where drivers frequently get out of control.

"We have had two go out of control on that very stretch it's just when they did they didn't kill anyone.

"We want to make that road safer before a tragedy happens."

But Mr Jacob, a former traffic policeman, said the facts did not merit the speed limit and that there had been few serious accidents recorded on the road.

He said the police would not support a 20mph speed limit unless it was physically enforced by other means.

He said: "For transport recommendations, 20mph speed limits should be fully enforcing in other words they should have measures."

The council also said it was not happy with the possibility of anti-skid surfacing, despite Mr Jacob's insistence that it was effective.

Mr Jacob said he would report back to the council with a list of measures and cost implications.