The speed limit on Portland Beach Road is set to be lowered after a petition of more than 280 signatures was brought before the council.

A Dorset County Council (DCC) panel met last month to consider the petition which called for a speed reduction to make the road connecting Weymouth and Portland safer.

The petition, organised by Weymouth resident Tracy Ballentine, stated: “We are concerned residents who urge DCC to act now to lower the speed limit on the Portland Beach Road making it a safe place for all.”

At the meeting, councillors agreed the speed limit should be reduced by 10mph.

A spokesman for DCC said: "Following discussion with the petitioner, the petition panel agreed that a reduction of the speed limit to 50mph from national speed limit (60mph) should be taken forward pending support from Dorset Police and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council."

Speed limit changes require a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) to be made.

There are currently more than 100 outstanding TRO requests in the county which DCC has to 'prioritise against a finite budget.'

The spokesman added: "TRO requests are ranked to their criteria score, and the regulation team will evaluate where a 50mph limit for Portland Beach Road ranks against other current requests.

"Initial thoughts are that this area will rank highly and it could be delivered in the next financial year (2018/19)."

Data provided by Dorset Police showed between September 2012 and August 2017 there were 20 crashes on the Portland Beach Road - one fatal, eight serious and 11 that resulted in slight injury.

The latest traffic survey data for the road, in May 2017, showed the mean average speed of traffic was 44.5mph.

However, the data showed between 10pm and 5am, the 85th percentile speed exceeded 60mph, meaning more than 15 per cent of motorists were speeding.

The 85th percentile speed defines the speed that 85 percent of drivers will drive at or below under free-flowing conditions.

At certain times of the night the 85th percentile exceeded 70mph.

The panel agreed the data collected indicated a need for enforcement at particular times of the day and a request will be made to Dorset Police for enforcement of the existing speed limit outside of peak times.

Councillor for Wyke Regis, Kate Wheller said the reason for the move was twofold.

"Firstly, it creates a bit of consistency for it to be 50mph along the road instead of 60mph and then dropping so quickly down to 30mph.

"Secondly, because of the build up of visitors at Chesil and the growth of Billy Winters and the water sports in that area, there's a lot more movement on those junctions for businesses and that bit of road is becoming more dangerous.

"I think it will make it safer for pedestrians."

The proposal will now go to an initial consultation with stakeholders including police and borough councillors before the authority can proceed.