RESIDENTS of an award-winning village will be asked for new ideas of how to spend the prize money after their first suggestion was turned down.

Sadberge Parish Council said it had been blocked by senior borough council officers from erecting a speed indicator sign as part of a monitoring programme in the village.

The parish council has £3,000 to spend as part of its prize money for its success in the 2008 Village of the Year competition.

Parish councillors put forward a number of suggestions to residents about how to use the money.

The most popular idea was to erect traffic visors following complaints about speeding in the village. Second was to put wooden carvings in the village as a permanent reminder of the success in the competition.

However, the parish council believed hopes for the signs had been dashed because of opposition from senior officers in Darlington.

Parish clerk Alastair Mackenzie said: "It is not a winnable battle."

The parish council will discuss the matter again at the annual meeting in May.

Council vice-chairman Stuart Best said: "Everyone complains about the speed in the village. We need to do something about that.

"Three carvings in the village aren't going to do that short of putting a camera in front of them and giving them high-visibility jackets."

Borough councillor for the Sadberge ward Brian Jones advised the parish council that there was just one speed sign in the borough, which was on the A167 at Coatham Mundeville before a blind summit.

A Darlington Borough Council spokeswoman said: "There are a number of issues which would need to be resolved before we could support the idea of the village providing its own speed indicator device.

"We have previously advised the parish council on the issues they need to consider and said if they submit a proposal addressing these issues we will be happy to look at it."

Sadberge has been the latest to join a community speedwatch programme, which has been popular in other villages in the Darlington borough.

In three sessions in mid-February, 32 motorists were found to be speeding. They included a total of 17 on Norton Lane during two separate hour-long patrols and 15 in Hill House Lane during a 40-minute period. Letters were sent to the motorists.