Full speed ahead to cut speed limits

Graffham Parish Council is accelerating its aim to reduce the current 30mph speed limit within the village to 20mph – and wants the help of residents to bring this about.

Published: 4 December 2025

It is asking anyone who supports the move, or who has witnessed drivers going along our roads too fast or dangerously, to send in details.  It will then urge West Sussex County Council, which is responsible for these kinds of things, for a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) limiting the speed in the village to 20mph.

Chariman Gillian Charlesworth says: “We have been advised to make an application as soon as possible, as many villages wish to obtain funding for this sort of scheme.  To support this, we need as much information as possible about road dangers and risks in and around the village. Reports of specific incidents, near misses and accidents are particularly useful and important to include.”

You are asked to submit them to the parish council’s clerk by email at clerk@graffham-pc.gov.uk as soon as possible, with a deadline of 7 January.

As part of its new village plan, besides reducing the current speed limit within the village, the parish council proposes to introduce ‘gateways’ with improved signage at the entrance to the village and to work with neighbouring parish councils to have the limit on roads between them and the A285, A286 and A272 to the east, west and north cut to 40mph, discouraging motorists from using these lanes as rat runs and making them safer for walkers, horse-riders and cyclists.