Llanidloes Town Council has received a number of complaints regarding the B4518 Llangurig Road out of the town.

Keith Foster, a Health and Safety consultant, has been enlisted to produce a report charting the problems which the town council will present to Powys County Council (PCC) in the hope of forcing a public consultation.

A series of speed-humps and chicanes were installed on the road along with the implementation of a 20mph zone, as the authority endeavoured to slow traffic down outside the town's two schools.

However, the town council feels PCC has gone too far with its traffic calming efforts, and in saving one problem has created a range of new ones.

"We have had a number of different complaints about the Llangurig Road," said Sonia Pritchard, Llanidloes Town Clerk.

"The council-installed traffic calming measures have been taken too far and need scaling down.

"Unfortunately PCC won't accept there's a problem so we've been forced to employ a consultant to produce a report, in the hope the council will take note of the issue and allow a public consultation."

Mr Foster said a number of issues had become apparent: "Emergency services are being forced to travel around the town instead of using the road in question because they're having trouble getting their vehicles over the speed-humps.

"A gap of around 90 yards between two of the speed-humps is, according to the lollipop man, causing some drivers to speed up, meaning they're going faster now directly outside the school than they were before the calming measures were installed.

"There's been resultant damage to the Market Hall as traffic volumes increase; problems with schoolchildren using speed-humps as crossing points and incidents of vandalism.

"There's also been some environmental issues – I spoke to one farmer who used to use a small car on trips to town, but since the speed-humps were installed he's reverted to using his 4x4 because of the damaging effects the road had on his car."

In addition to a mandatory 20mph zone outside the school, the road is home to three different types of traffic calming devices; full speed-humps which span the breadth of the road, chicanes which restrict traffic flow at certain points in the road and 'pillow' humps which are meant so emergency vehicles can go over them quickly.

David Watkins, locality ambulance officer, said it can be a problem: "Speed-humps can cause problems for emergency vehicles; I've heard of a number of incidents of ambulances sustaining damage from them.

"In this instance, crews might feel it quicker to use the bypass around the town instead of using the Llangurig Road."

A number of the complaints had claimed the first speed-hump out of the town was particularly "violent" and had caused damage to vehicles. A recommended height limit has been placed on such humps of 100mm, however the consultants report claims the camber of the road means the actual height is nearer 130mm.

Gwilym Evans, PCC's board member responsible for highways and transportation, said: "We will look at whatever report is produced and it will be subject to a full discussion by the Montgomeryshire Planning Committee in due time."

Anyone who wishes to contribute to the report can visit www.powyssafety.co.uk or contact Llanidloes Town Council on 01686 412353.