A PUBLIC meeting has been arranged for next Tuesday to discuss reducing the speed limit on Wimblington Road.

The event, organised by Mayor of March, Councillor Jan French and Cllr Rob Skoulding, will be held at 7pm in the Noble Suite at the Oliver Cromwell Hotel, March.

The meeting will be chaired by Cambs Times editor John Elworthy.

Some residents have called for the 60 mph speed limit stretch of Wimblington Road to be lowered to 40 mph to improve the safety of the road.

The announcement comes after former teacher Chris Hill was prevented from raising concerns about the speed limit at a March Town Council meeting last Monday by Cllr Mike Cornwell, who objected because the matter had been discussed five months and 24 days earlier.

A standing order, which dictates that you have to wait six months to re-visit an issue, was upheld and Mr Hill will not be able to speak on the matter until the April 8 meeting.

Cllr French said: “Last week we tried to get something agreed in principle at town council but they did not allow that to happen.

“We have decided we are going to do it a different way.

“The 2011 Localism Act enables residents to push councillors harder when they want things done.

“We are not pushing for it ourselvers, we are facilitating a discussion so we can get residents’ views. If not enough residents say they want the speed limit changed we will not push it.

“Other councillors have been invited to the meeting and, if enough people turn up, we will aim to get the speed limit reduced.”

Dominic Iliffe, 24, and James Kiely, 27, were killed along Wimblington Road, close to Mr Hill’s home, in December 2011.

Driver Bill Bishop, 19, was found guilty of causing their deaths by careless driving and was jailed for total of four years.

Cllr French and Cllr Skoulding will leaflet along Wimblington Road to raise awareness of the meeting. They will also leaflet the side roads.

Cllr French said: “We have discussed the campaign with Cambridgeshire County Council to see how we can push it forward.

“We hope to hold discussions with March Town Council, who will have to finance a good proportion of it.

“The plan is to take our findings back to the April town council meeting once we have done our costings.”

For more information about the meeting contact Cllr French at 01354 655099, Cllr Owen at 01354 654612 or Cllr Skoulding at 01354 602890