Schools have welcomed Government proposals to make it easier to introduce 20mph speed limits.

Council bosses have also "broadly" backed the plans despite one motoring group saying they felt they were a bad idea.

At the moment, to introduce 20mph limits on roads, authorities must do so in zones which require traffic-calming measures such as speed humps.

But this week Road Safety Minister Paul Clark wrote to councils saying the Government would like to take away the requirement for schemes to include other measures.

Most county schools are set to have 20mph zones around them in the next two years.

In the city, council officers said it was a "priority" to introduce speed limits outside schools, but have not set a deadline.

Leicester City Council's road safety education and school travel plan team leader David Poxon said: "We broadly welcome the suggestions that were made in the Department for Transport's consultation letter.

"We currently have a policy of introducing 20mph zones where speeds are reduced by traffic-calming features."

Mr Poxon added the Government say 20mph limits without traffic-calming should only be introduced where speeds were already 24mph or below, otherwise they would not be heeded by drivers.

Staff at Highcliffe Primary School, in Birstall, want to make the road outside their school, Greengate Lane, 20mph instead of 30mph.

Head teacher Pauline Aveling said: "I had a child this week who stepped out onto the road only to quickly step back – otherwise they would have been killed."

Road Safety Minister Paul Clark said: "We have seen that 20mph zones with traffic-calming measures can make a real difference to the safety of roads.

"But we've also looked at the latest research and listened to councils and residents who want to introduce 20mph limits on a series of roads where physical traffic-calming measures aren't possible or practical."

Mr Clark said the Government also wanted councils to review speed limits on rural roads by 2011.

The Government wants them to consider reducing the 60mph speed limit on single carriageway A and B roads to 50mph in the most accident-prone places.

Leicestershire representative of the Association of British Drivers, Chris Ward, said: "There are areas around schools that need 20mph limits twice a day, not all the time.

"Putting them across whole areas is ridiculous."

The councils have been invited to write back to the Government with their views.