THE mayor of Haslemere has demanded a solution "sooner rather than later" to the ongoing traffic problems in Lower Street. Plans are now moving forward to employ traffic calming measures in the road, which has seen 10 accidents involving pedestrians in the last six years. At a behind-closed-doors meeting at Haslemere Fire Station, from which The Herald was turned away, the major players in the saga discussed the options available to slow down cars and keep pedestrians safe in the busy street. Now mayor Michael Dover is urging for plans to be put into action as soon as possible. He said: "I passionately believe we need a crossing and a reduced speed limit in Lower Street. "Everyone now seems to be doing their best to find a solution, but I urge them to do it by yesterday rather than tomorrow." The meeting was called after a recent survey of vehicle speeds along the road was completed. It found that a large number of cars were travelling at 40 mph on a road that carries a 30 mph limit. Lower Street resident Vicky Leake, who has been campaigning for a crossing in the street, said: "The speeds were so unexpectedly high that there were concerns the data may be incorrect. "Surrey County Council, however, have been assured that this is not possible." Mrs Leake added that she was positive that things were finally moving in the right direction. She said: "I'm sick to the stomach of having to cross that road every day with my young children. "Only yesterday my daughter stepped into the road and was nearly mown down. It's good to see everyone finally moving in the right direction." Mrs Leake attended the meeting on Friday, along with Surrey county councillor Christine Stevens, David Harmer, Les Gillingham and Simon Hall of Surrey County Council, Haslemere town councillor Michael Foster and Robert Serman of The Haslemere Society. Mrs Stevens told The Herald after the meeting she felt that good progress was made and that something would soon be agreed with council engineer Simon Hall. She said: "We went through a range of options for Lower Street, including traffic lights, a pelican crossing, a zebra crossing and a 20 mph speed limit. "Simon advised that traffic lights would essentially create traffic chaos in the town and suggested that a zebra crossing may be more worthwhile. "However, in order to comply with regulations and a safety audit there need to be defined sight distances, and this would affect where any crossing might go. "We agreed that what we want here is a safer pedestrian solution, and that we should get on with finding it." Despite the positive steps taken at the meeting, fears remain over funding for the new crossing and who should pay for it. Mr Dover believes that money should not be a stumbling block and whatever could be done should be done to get the project started. He said: "The safety of our citizens is paramount to me and the town council and we would consider any option that would bring a solution. "Sitting on our hands and waiting for the matter to resolve itself won't help." On the subject of funding, Mrs Stevens added: "This is a local priority for Surrey County Council and there is a £5,000 feasibility budget available. "A very rough ballpark figure for a zebra crossing and 20 mph gateways would be £60,000, and we would want to budget for this so that the detailed designs and construction takes place in 2007/08." She added that there were funding options open which could include a joint venture between SCC and Haslemere Town Council. She said: "If we want to make it work, and work well for us, then we need to plan to budget for it. "The local committee's yearly allocation is not vast, and therefore any partnership approaches would be very well received." The next step will see another more covert survey set up using a loop across the road to get a more accurate account of the average speeds of vehicles. Then the council will go about finding the best place to put in a zebra crossing and finding the cash to pay for it. A meeting of the traffic task group will take place in July for an update on events and to take plans further forward.