Blackfordby is to get a solar-powered speed monitor on a road where one car was clocked racing into the village at 85mph.

The Evolis 'radar' speed warning sign has been in place for around six months to show motorists heading into Blackfordby on the A511 how fast they are travelling along Heath Lane which has a 30mph limit.

Now Ashby de la Zouch Town Council has approved the purchase of a solar-powered device to replace the current unit which is currently installed.

The response locally has been that the sign has had a positive effect on slowing down the speed of drivers coming into the village.

Blackfordby resident Simon Best wrote to the Town Council with a report of the data from the monitor.

But he said that while most motorists took notice of the sign, there had been some 'serious offenders'.

And he said there were also indications that some drivers were using the route as a 'rat-run'.

In his letter Mr Best said: 'The maximum recorded was 85mph, this was in the afternoon of January 3, as always, the higher speeds are inbound from the A511.

"The report also shows that there continues to be far more traffic driving inbound to the village.

"This continues to be late afternoons - the end of the working day rat-run through the village, avoiding the A511/Butt Lane traffic congestion.

"A proposal has been made to Ashby de la Zouch Town Council to replace this battery-powered, potentially mobile unit, with a permanent solar-powered version, this unit then being freed for other, equally problematic routes in both Blackfordby and the wider council area."

The new unit was approved at the Town Council Planning and Transportation Committee which was held before the Government's new Coronavirus rules were put in place.

Ashby de la Zouch Town Council meetings have now been cancelled while the guidelines are in place.