Despite previous assurances over the speed of police vehicles through the centre of Chapel two were reported to have driven through at more than 60mph.

Cllr Liam McCarthy said he had seen two police Honda CRV vehicles with blue lights flashing, but no sirens speed through.

"I think it is quite a dangerous practice in a build up area."

He said the distance to the by-pass from the police station on Manchester Road was a mile, but lowering their speed down to 45mph would only taken an extra 30 seconds.

"It seems to me we should ask the police to impose their own limits when going through a built up area, the time saving is minimal but the potential consequences of an accident are very high."

He said the cars had gone through the town just before 10pm with blue lights flashing but no sirens. "There were lots of people coming out of pubs and restaurants, it is a busy time in the evening People had had one or two as well. They were ordinary police cars not traffic cars."

Cllr Mike Smith said: "We had very clear assurances on this over many years that they wouldn't go at excessive speeds yet all our observations are to the contrary. I totally agree that it is a real danger to people in the town."

Cllr Peter Harrison said while he had some sympathy for the police he had been forced to take avoiding action when confronted with three police cars when driving on a residential side road. "They were certainly coming very extremely fast."

The council are to raise the matter with the police.