![Lord Howard quit parish council over speed limit row](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2023/12/10/TELEMMGLPICT000358398315_17022416829500_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqMD30be9QCJMilMtcvIYnKUQIk1tr6N7xdsxe-A25E9s.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Tory peer ousted in village speed limit row was ‘vindicated’ by 20-year-old report
Friend of Prince Philip quit parish council after losing fight against 30mph speed limit
![Lord Howard quit parish council over speed limit row](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2023/12/10/TELEMMGLPICT000358398315_17022416829500_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqMD30be9QCJMilMtcvIYnKUQIk1tr6N7xdsxe-A25E9s.jpeg?imwidth=680)
A Tory peer who quit a parish council in a row over a 30mph speed limit was “vindicated” by a report two decades ago ruling out the same idea, it has been claimed.
Lord Howard of Rising, who owns the 12th-century seat of Castle Rising, part of the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, stood down from the local authority as its chairman after 35 years last month in an acrimonious battle with “newcomers”.
He had opposed a campaign to lower the 60mph speed limit on the main road running through Castle Rising to 30mph, but rival villagers defeated him and passed it at a council meeting.
He has now hit back at critics, pointing out that Norfolk County Council’s highways team rejected exactly the same proposal in 2002 and are likely to do so again.
The Telegraph has obtained the council’s report which said it “would not be appropriate for the village due to the number of signs and the increased visual intrusion of the required additional signs” and the already narrow road layout.
The report concluded that “we wanted to rid the village of non-essential traffic infrastructure in order to reinforce the ‘villageness’ of Castle Rising” and suggested that visual gates to mark entry to the village, carriageway narrowing and a no-entry sign to a side road be pursued instead.
Scathing resignation letter
Lord Howard, who was a close friend of the late Prince Philip, said: “Norfolk County Council looked at the issue 20 years ago and decided it was not necessary. I do not believe there has been any material change since.”
An ally of the 82-year-old said the report made exactly the same argument as he made to villagers in the current battle, meaning he has already been “vindicated” by an “outside party endorsing his view”.
The life peer, whose ancestor William d’Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel, built the lavish fortress that dominates the village, previously issued a scathing resignation letter to Castle Rising Parish Council saying it “has become something with which I do not wish to be associated”.
Last week, some villagers rallied to his defence, with one saying pointedly: “It’s quintessentially English, it’s such a beautiful village, some of the newcomers have come a long, long way to live here, they need to ask themselves why.”
But Claire Smith, the parish councillor who led the successful bid to lower the speed limit, said: “To vote against [the speed limit] is to vote against the very clear wishes of the residents of Castle Rising.”
Norfolk County Council said it was now “advising on a formalised approach to speed limits in the village”.