Getting a 20mph speed zone should become easier to achieve in Dorset – although there is very little money to pay for the safety measures and Dorset Police is unlikely to be able to enforce them.

Changes are to be introduced to improve the process after councillors and officers spend months trying to streamline how applications are dealt with and to offer a consistent policy.

Dorchester councillor, Les Fry, a former police officer, welcomed the changes although admitted they were less than perfect.

Sherborne councillor Jon Andrews also said the process had flaws – including areas wanting to apply having to have a community speedwatch group in place for 12 months before making an application.

Weymouth's Brian Heatley said he was also disappointed with too much emphasis on cost and enforcement.

He told the meeting that Edinburgh had schemes in place since 2016 with very little enforcement and had seen deaths drop by a quarter and serious injuries by one-third.

Cllr Heatley said the schemes would not be popular with many car owners but a balance had to be struck between them, in their increasingly larger and faster vehicles, and the needs of pedestrians, horse riders and cyclists.

Highways lead councillor Simon Gibson said he hoped the changes would encourage more town and parish councils to make requests for 20mph zones – although each would have to be judged against Department of Transport guidelines, affordability and whether the policy could be enforced.

He said that the budget for the schemes was £75,000 a year.

The meeting heard that the cost of signs alone, for a typical village scheme, could be £5,000 with a similar sum, depending on circumstances, needed to make Traffic Regulation Orders, before physical changes to the road was costed, if needed.

Highways portfolio holder Cllr Ray Bryan told the Cabinet meeting that there was "still some way to go" to persuade Dorset police to agree that they could enforce any new limits which are introduced, adding that they are already struggling with enforcement in 30 and 40mph zones.

He said that as the cabinet member also responsible for climate change mitigation in Dorset he had personal concerns that lower limits might lead to greater air pollution and has asked for a further report into the issue.

Cllr Bryan said that, for HGVs in particular, it has been claimed that having to shift down through the gears, especially where there was a hill, would result in higher pollution levels.