RESIDENTS in Ogbourne St George are threatening to take to the streets in protest unless moves are made to slow down drivers who are using the village as a rat run.

The village hall was packed for a meeting called by resident Lizzie Hawnt, following fears that there could be a tragedy unless drivers are made to observe the 30mph limit.

Residents of Ogbourne St George hoped they had seen the last of their traffic problems 30 years ago when a bypass was built for traffic using the A346 Marlborough-Swindon road.

However, as the main road has become more congested during the morning and afternoon peak times, drivers have started to use the roads through Ogbourne St George as a short cut.

Villagers say that drivers travelling down into the village on the unclassified road from Aldbourne, also disregard the speed limit much of the time.

Mrs Hawnt said: "It has become more and more of a rat run for people going to Swindon and they have no respect for the speed limits."

Drivers cut through Ogbourne St George, using the Marlborough Road and High Street to head for Chiseldon. There they can take a short cut through Hodson to Old Town in Swindon, avoiding the rush hour queues on the dual carriageway between Coate Water and Common Head.

Villagers say they have noticed a considerable increase in traffic using Ogbourne St George as a short cut since the construction of the new Great Western Hospital, with additional traffic lights, that have made the main road journey into Swindon more arduous.

Mrs Hawnt said she was delighted with the attendance at the public meeting on Thursday. More than 60 people went along, including the village's county councillor, Chris Humphries, who agreed to support the campaign for lower speeds.

Mrs Hawnt said: "The packed meeting was highly charged and the depth of feeling against speeding drivers was very evident, clearly something has to be done. Many villagers expressed concern that despite the issue being raised regularly, little progress had been made in recent years.

"There was a host of highly meritable suggestions from simple warning signs to a complete bypass of the village.

"In a frank exchange of views, Coun Humphries offered helpful advice and guidance to the meeting."

She said he also agreed to see if the county council would share funding of any proper and legal strategy the village deemed necessary.

Villagers at the meeting agreed to form an action committee to take the anti-speeding campaign further. They also agreed to look at short-term measures, including street protests, asking police to operate more speed traps, the installation of speed cameras and inviting the police to show a greater presence.

Long term, the meeting agreed, traffic calming solutions like those in other Wiltshire communities, including speed humps and chicanes, could provide a permanent speeding deterrent. Parish council chairman Tim Frost said the council had tried regularly over the years to get Wiltshire County Council to do something about the problem.

"Whenever we have asked to have something done about it they have always been short of money," he said.

"Similarly, police always responded saying they did not have enough speed traps available."

Coun Frost said traffic calming was top of the list of ideas put forward by villagers to reduce the speed of though traffic. "A lot of people have put forward a lot of ideas and these will be collated by the new committee," he added.

Coun Humphries said he had sympathy with the villagers' concern about speeding because there had been similar fears in his own village, Aldbourne, which resulted in a safer roads campaign with drivers being asked to pledge to keep within speed limits.

Coun Humphries said: "I have assured the residents of Ogbourne St George I will pass on any ideas they come up with to the road safety people at County Hall to see if they are practicable."