A 40MPH speed limit on roads in the wooded parts of the Forest of Dean is needed to stop the “bloody carnage” of people and animals that continue to be hurt and killed in accidents on the highway.

That is the view of councillors who form part of a Forest of Dean road safety group which is made up of county, district parish and town councillors along with members of the emergency services, highways and forestry officers.

There have been calls for such measures to be implemented for more than a decade as there have been a significant number of road fatalities in the Forestt of Dean during that time.

People continue to be killed in road accidents in the area and dozens of wild animals have been killed in just the last two months.

And the group sees speed as a major contributing factor to these accidents.

Works to install new signs and reduce the speed limit on Speech House Road to 50mph are taking place this month.

But the road safety group believe this measure is not enough of a reduction because fatal accidents are happening at that speed.

County Councillor Beki Hoyland (G, Blakeney and Bream), who chairs the Forest of Dean road safety group, has been working to get a 40mph limit established across the wooded areas of the district.

It has been a long-running campaign and the benefits of this are based on ample evidence, she said.

But she said the reluctance from police and highways has meant that nothing has happened.

“When I was first elected to the County Council in May 2021, I knew about the campaign to get the speed limit within the wooded areas of the Forest of Dean reduced to 40 mph,” she said.

“This would not only protect those in the cars – the killed and seriously injured statistics are not good – but it would also encourage other road users, such as cyclists and walkers, by making them feel safer.

“In addition, over the last two months there have been 12 boar and 15 deer killed on the roads according to Forestry England. These are the ones that are reported. It is likely that there are more that limp into the woods and die slowly and unseen.

“As chair of the Forest of Dean Road safety group, I have been working to establish a 40mph limit. This is based on ample evidence and a great deal of community support.

“However, the reluctance from police and highways has meant that nothing has happened.

“Next month The Speech House Road will be closed while they install crash barriers and reduce the limit to 50mph. Why 50mph and not 40mph, as needed?

“We have asked both highways and the police and both agree 40mph would make more sense; that accidents, sometimes fatal ones, are happening at 50mph.

“However, the police are not willing to enforce a lower speed unless the road is engineered to make it feel like a slower road. This would be massively expensive and intrusive so highways cannot commit to that. So, we go round the circle again.

“Why do other areas of the country with free roaming animals, such as the New Forest and Dartmoor, have safe speeds and not the Forest of Dean?”

Former road safety group chairman Graham Morgan, who remains a member of the group as chairman of Cinderford Town Council, said there was a scrutiny committee at Gloucestershire County Council in 2011 which found in favour and supported the proposals.

“We’ve been asking for this for years now because in Cannock Chase, Dartmoor and the New Forest they had their speed reduction in the 1990s.

“We’re in 2026, what the bloody hell is the matter with Gloucestershire where we can’t even get a speed limit reduction for a place like the Forest.

“People shouldn’t be travelling over a certain speed out there. They must be off their head.

“Boar and deer fly out in front of you and the only thing you are going to do is swerve, hit the oak tree and kill yourself.”

Cllr Morgan also believes crossroads such as Cannop and Mireystock should have traffic lights on them.

“Those staggered junctions are terrible,” he said.

“The amount of people that have been killed on those crossroads… you see no end of bangs there.

“There are solutions which would cut those accidents down, no problem.

“The speed limit for the whole Forest is long overdue.

“Since February 1, 2026 there have been 12 feral wild boar killed and 15 deer.

“For the animals alone, it’s bloody carnage.

“Anybody who is going out there at speed is taking their life in their hands.”

Gloucestershire Constabulary say they are committed to keeping people safe on the roads and they take appropriate action against those who put others at risk by driving at excessive speeds or in an otherwise dangerous manner.

“Speeding is one of the fatal four causes of road deaths and injury in the county, along with using a mobile phone while driving, not wearing a seat belt and drink or drug driving,” a police spokesperson said.

Gloucestershire County Council has been approached for comment.