A Falmouth councillor wants to see a continuous network of cycle paths built around Falmouth and Penryn.

Cornwall Councillor for Smithick ward Jayne Kirkham started working to improve road safety in Falmouth after a number of pedestrians were struck by cars around Dracaena Avenue in October.

Hoping to secure council funding for the cycle paths, she has put together a survey to find out the reason why more people are not cycling or walking in the area.

In order to approve funding for the paths, Cornwall Council needs to be convinced that there is a genuine need for them.

Both Falmouth University and the University of Exeter are also surveying their staff and students about their walking and cycling habits in order to explore the possibility of accessing grant funding, to jointly fund the paths along with the council.

The Falmouth councillor, who is also on a Tour of Britain working group, hopes that local and council support for the race, which will include a 175km leg in Cornwall, will get the ball rolling to build new cycling infrastructure.

As for Dracaena Avenue, councillor Kirkham's efforts have seen two temporary vehicle-activated signs (VAS) put up on the road as a way of collecting data about vehicle speed.

This data has now been analysed and shows that the signs made a meaningful reduction in average speed when set to flash at those driving too fast.

Councillor Kirkham said: "I will be pursuing getting a more permanent VAS in this spot as it seems to be effective."

The councillor has also had discussions with Cornwall Council about putting a new pedestrian refuge island on Dracaena Avenue where the 'desire line' is for children crossing the road on the way to school.

Another suggestion was to standardise the speed limit to 30mph for the whole length of the road.