Out-of-use electronic speeding signs across Warwickshire could be scrapped if council plans are given the green light.

Across the county there are 400 vehicle activated signs to warn drivers if they are speeding - 40 per cent of which do not work.

Warwickshire County Council has said it might get rid of these signs to cut maintenance costs, leaving town and parish councils to foot the bill if they wanted their signs to remain in place.

"We would only seek to remove signs that have demonstrably not provided a road safety benefit in terms of reducing personal injury collisions," council officers explained at last week's communities overview and scrutiny committee meeting.

"It wouldn't just be any non-functional sign, it will be any sign that has stopped working and hasn't produced any road safety benefit and is at a site where collisions are low anyway."

They added: "We recognise the importance of vehicle activated signs for local communities. 

"It will provide a mechanism to allow those communities to fund the retention or replacement of existing vehicle activated signs which we would otherwise remove through the proposed process."

The scheme would also provide a stricter criteria for putting up new signs.

But councillors raised concerns about the scheme, saying a lot of residents would be against it.

"It is concerning me because it seems to be saying two things. One is the constraints on whether we have any new ones are going to be really tight," said Cllr Tim Sinclair. 

"But I am also worried by the fact that 40 per cent are currently non-operational and this policy would give the council the opportunity to remove all of those non-operational ones and as soon as anything else is deemed not to be in scope, or goes non-operational, that can be removed as well. 

"I imagine that that will not go down with very large numbers of residents across our communities. So I am afraid that I have major concerns."

The proposals will go before WCC's cabinet in July.

(Image by Oliver Dixon via geograph.org.uk)