A new road joining two busy approaches into Longtown has been included in a local plan for improvements to this part of north Cumbria.

Community leaders believe it could help ease traffic problems - a hot topic following a crackdown on speeders.

It's hoped the road, which would connect the busy A7 with the A6071 would help reduce the number of lorries coming through the town.

The route could also deal with increased traffic if plans for 100 new homes are given the go ahead.

Gordon Routledge, vice chairman of Arthuret parish council, explained that there's been a long-standing issue in Albert Street.

This road is narrow, lined by cars and trucks often have to manoeuvre to get to the industrial estate and other businesses on the A6071.

He said: "[Albert Street] was never designed for heavy vehicles.

"It was built way back in the days of horses and carts so it's one of these situations.

"You get a lot of heavy traffic turning there to go back down the Brampton road to the industrial estate just outside the town."

The Community Action Plan, developed in partnership with Kirkandrews-on-Esk, is in its final stages.

It aims to address issues, based on consultation with the community, on the economy, highways and other concerns raised by the parish council or local residents.

It is also a wish list of improvements.

While Mr Routledge thinks there is support for the road, he said the parish council hasn't pushed for it because there's never been the funding available.

But after police issued 322 notices of intended prosecution for speeding offences on English Street and, in a separate move, a speed survey found more than half the number of drivers it monitored were breaking the speed limit, Mr Routledge thinks it is worth highlighting the idea.

He also pointed out that revised plans to increase the number of new houses to be built between Old Road and Brampton Road could mean an additional 200 or more cars in the town.

Gleeson Homes and Regeneration has submitted an application for planning permission to build 100 new homes where outline planning consent for 61 homes was approved in February.

The developer wants to built a mixture of two, three and four-bedroom, detached and semi-detached homes.

Principle access to the site would be from the A6071, meaning any traffic coming from Carlisle would travel along Albert Street.

"It's something that we built into the [Community Action] plan as an aspiration for the future, knowing that there wouldn't be funding to do it at the moment," he said.

"It's put in as something to be considered, if funding was ever found, as a solution for taking the traffic away from Albert Street.

"But now with the problems of heavy traffic and speeding it would be a good thing to focus on it.

"Its something not to overlook and we should probably do in the not too distant future.

"This is something I think is worthy of focusing on at the moment.

"It would solve the problem of the heavy vehicles. It would take traffic away and solve the Albert Street problem as well."

Val Tarbitt, who represents Longtown on Cumbria County Council, supports the idea.

She said: "The residents in Albert Street must have a very difficult time because there's no parking in their own properties and the huge trucks - coming down the A6071 and turning off the A7 down to Sandysike and the other industrial estates - have to swing round that corner and so cars are faced with trucks coming towards them.

"Some of them, I think, rattle: the foundations of the houses in Albert Street.

"So to take that pressure off, it would be a tremendous bonus for the area."

Mrs Tarbitt, who also lives in the town, praised the efforts of the police for helping highlight the long-standing issue of speeding in Longtown.

She thinks recent news regarding the number of speeding drivers been a calming process.

Mr Routledge welcomed the deployments to the town but feels their objective to slow vehicles down is yet to be met.

The parish council is awaiting a report from highways officials of traffic calming measures to address problems of speeding in the town.

In the short-term it would like to see flashing warning lights installed on the approaches to the town.