Staff, pupils and parents at a Marlow school are celebrating after the “outrageous” 60mph speed limit outside the school gates was lowered following a hard-fought campaign.

Danesfield School, in Henley Road, was one of the few Bucks primary schools on a national speed limit route, with head teacher Sarah Morgan saying near-misses were a regular occurrence.

Concerned parents and governors set up an online petition in 2015, relaunching a campaign from 2007 to reduce the speed limit from 60mph to 40mph, after parents and teachers struggled to pull out of the school due to traffic thundering past on the A4155.

Mrs Morgan said there had also been a number of accidents on the bend with cars ending up in the woodland adjacent to the road.

Now Bucks County Council (BCC) has lowered the speed limit on the road to 40mph and put up new signage.

The speed reduction scheme, which cost around £30,000, was jointly funded over two years through a contribution of nearly £10,000 by the parish council and the parent teacher association, and £20,000 from Local Area Forum funds.

Mrs Morgan told the Marlow Free Press everyone at the school celebrated when a parent sent them a picture of the new sign.

She said: “I would like to personally thank all the parents, governors and Medmenham Parish Council, together with the wider Marlow community, who signed our petition.

“Everyone has worked so hard on the school’s behalf to ensure a safer environment for our children.

“Their dedication has resulted in a permanent change to the speed limit outside of Danesfield School and we are all very grateful.

“The Bucks Free Press have also been a great support and we appreciate their coverage of our campaign over the past few years.”

Jean Teesdale, chairman of BCC's South West Chiltern and Marlow Local Area Forum, paid tribute to the partnership working that resulted in the reduction of the speed limit outside Danesfield School.

She said: “I know how concerned the school, the parents and the parish council were about reducing the speed limit, and although it has taken funding over two years to achieve this, I’m delighted we've got the new 40mph limit in place.

“This is a great example of local people working together to find a local solution.”