VILLAGERS are calling for a reduction in the speed limit on part of a road which runs from Basingstoke to Andover to be extended.

Residents from Ashe, near Overton, attended Overton Parish Council’s meeting to voice their support for introducing a 40mph limit along part of the B3400, reducing it from 60mph.

Hampshire County Council plans to reduce the limit to 40mph along London Road, Overton, between a point 457 metres east of its junction with Station Road and a point 735 metres east of that point.

David Howetson Brown said: “I support strongly a 40mph limit going east out of the village, but also to extend it to Ashe crossroads. It’s quite dangerous by the garage and those bends there.”

William Bishop, from Ashe, added: “I support extending the limit to the crossroads because of the number of accidents including fatalities.

“There are a lot of horse riders that use it and there are blind corners coming from Basingstoke which are very dangerous. I know of four deaths.”

The road has various speed limits, including the national speed limit of 60mph along much of the route.

Council chairman Councillor Tom Ridler said the county council is unlikely to extend the reduced speed limit unless figures showed it is a hotspot for accidents.