We are residents of Ospringe Street and the surrounding streets of Ospringe and we are calling on Kent County Council to reduce the speed limit on Ospringe Street from 30mph to 20mph in line with the rest of Faversham and to introduce meaningful traffic calming measures.

Children are at risk. Ospringe CE Primary School is just around the corner. Every day, children (many very young) walk along Ospringe Street to and from school, alongside fast-moving cars and heavy goods vehicles. There are no speed cameras and no meaningful enforcement of the existing 30mph limit.

Heavy lorries on a residential street. Ospringe Street is a key route for HGVs serving the Gist distribution depot in Faversham and travelling to Sittingbourne. These vehicles are entirely out of place on a narrow conservation-area street used daily by families and children on foot.

Crashes into buildings. This is not a theoretical risk. Vehicles have crashed into buildings on Ospringe Street, including an incident within the last month. These are a direct consequence of excessive speed on an inappropriate road. It is only a matter of time before a person, not a building, is struck.

We have been told bluntly that a permanent speed camera will only be installed after a fatality. We refuse to accept that someone must die before our street is made safe.

Ospringe Street is one of the oldest roads in England. It follows the line of the ancient Roman road Watling Street - the route that has carried travellers between the Kent coast and London since before recorded history. In medieval times it was the road taken by pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. King Henry III founded the Maison Dieu on its corner in 1234. Many of the buildings lining the street today date from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, and the street was designated a Conservation Area in 1982. 

This is not a modern arterial road. It is a narrow, ancient street, in places barely wide enough for two lorries to pass, that has never been designed for the volume and speed of traffic it now carries.

We call for 20mph as an immediate, cost-effective first step — a bare minimum that can be delivered quickly. But we also expect the council to develop a long-term plan to meaningfully reduce traffic volumes on Ospringe Street, including the number of heavy goods vehicles using this narrow, historic residential road.

If you live in Ospringe and Faversham or if you simply care about the safety of this historic community  please add your name to our petition.

Thank you from Ospringe Action Group!