PLANS for a 20mph speed limit in Abingdon town centre have been shelved as Oxfordshire County County copes with Government cuts in funding.

The £500,000 scheme was placed under review at a meeting of the full council yesterday and will not be imposed this year as planned.

Plans to cut the 30mph limits in the centre were opposed by the police and the town council, but were approved by County Hall in February.

The deputy head of one Abingdon school condemned the delay.

Sarah Brinkley, deputy head at John Mason School, said: “If we are to encourage our children to live healthily and to feel safe in our community, then we have to encourage the drivers to participate too.

“Not every driver is aware of children and if reducing the speed limit makes that a reality, then that is a good thing.

“If going to 20 would make a difference, the time to lower the limit is now.”

Both Thames Valley Police and Abingdon Town Council opposed the speed limit reduction earlier this year.

The police said the roads were unsuitable for speed reductions and said extra traffic-calming measures would be needed for the limit to have any effect.

The town council said it had concerns about enforcement.

Meanwhile, the Royal British Legion condemned as “disgraceful” any threat to plans to fix the town’s tilting war memorial.

The town council’s £60,000 project to stablilise the war memorial and refurbish the area could be at risk because of county council delays to work in the surrounding area, caused by the budget cuts.

The final phase of the £3.4m Abingdon Integrated Transport Strategy, which would have resurfaced the High Street area by the memorial, ended abruptly last month.

Town councillor Julie Mayhew-Archer said the High Street project was “integral” to stabilising the war memorial and refurbishing the area, and that the funding should have been spent last year to complete the work.

She said the threat of a delay was “annoying”.

The chairman of the Abingdon Branch of the Royal British Legion, Stan Bradford, said: “It is poor considering that we have waited all these years to get it right. Everybody is going to suffer cutbacks, but to take it from a thing like that — it’s absolutely disgraceful.

“If the lads whose memory it was built for had not given their lives, these people who are making the decisions would not be in the position to do it.”

County council spokesman Owen Morton said: “The budget will be very tight for the coming years and all schemes will need to be assessed and prioritised accordingly.

“In the current national financial climate, all councils are being expected to make immediate and future savings as the Government cuts back on public expenditure in most areas.”