A PLEA for 20mph speed limits across Dolgellau has been rejected.

The town council had asked Gwynedd Council for a reduced speed limit to protect the town’s residents, especially the vulnerable.

The local authority replied last week that they had conducted speed tests in 2013 and found the average speed through town was already below 20mph and so they felt there was no need to introduce new limits. However, Gwynedd Council was prepared to consider enforcing a lower speed limit around the schools in the area.

But Cllr Ywain Myfyr said: “I don’t accept this at all. Vehicles move through the town at much faster speeds that than, even when schoolchildren are in town,” he said.

“Even if they are travelling within the speed limit and hit a child at 30mph, they’re going to do a lot of damage. If they’re hit at 20mph, there won’t be half as much damage - what we’ve been told isn’t good enough.”

Several other councillors agreed and suggested that the county council had been testing in the wrong places and should focus more on roads such as Y Lawnt and Ffordd Arran.

Cllr Branwen Rhys Dafydd said a reduced speed limit would suit Dolgellau as the town has narrow pavements and it was not uncommon for schoolchildren to “step out from between two cars and end up in the middle of the road”.

Cllr Myfyr proposed that the town council write to Gwynedd Council and state that they disagree with their conclusion and wish to introduce 20mph speed limit throughout Dolgellau “like almost every other town in Meirionnydd”.

The proposal was agreed upon unanimously.