CAMPAIGNERS are stepping up their fight for a 30mph speed limit in a New Forest village where several animals have been killed or injured.

Families at Bramshaw are launching a petition in a bid to persuade Hampshire County Council to lower the 40mph limit on the B3079.

They say animal accidents have highlighted the potential risk to pedestrians in the village.

Businessman David Lock, of Fountain Court, raised the issue at a meeting of the local parish council.

He said: "We desperately need some traffic calming. People have objected in the past on the grounds it would impose a modern solution on an old village, but it's a modern problem.

"The parish council should be pushing very hard for a 30mph."

Council chairman Joan Pressey said: "We have asked for a 30mph limit on numerous occasions - and each time we have come up against a huge brick wall.

"The county council takes no notice of animal accidents.

"There are not that many motorists who flout the limit, but the ones who do, exceed it terribly."

Former parish councillor Peter Reynolds stressed that speed was not the only road safety hazard in the village.

He said: "A foal was killed outside my house the other day after it emerged from behind a bush and was hit by a car.

"There are a lot of sightline problems on a road that is not suitable for a 40mph limit.

A county council spokesman said: "The 40mph limit throughout the New Forest is quite well respected and a 30mph limit just through Bramshaw would be difficult to enforce.

"However, we have devised a range of rural traffic calming measures and are waiting to see if the parish council is willing to contribute financially."