Shropshire in the driving seat for fast roads

And the rest of Shropshire also fares well, with some of the quickest road speeds in the country.

The surprise news comes after the Department for Transport released details of the 10 local authorities with the fastest peak-time road speeds.

However, the bad news is that even across Shropshire, average road speeds during the rush hour have got slower over the past seven years.

The statistics show that commuters in Rutland have the best deal, with average road speeds of 40.7mph on locally-managed A roads at peak times. However, the figure is down from 42.1mph in 2007.

Telford and Wrekin lies in second place, with average speeds of 38.7mph on local A roads. Seven years ago it was 40.4mph.

The Shropshire Council area comes eighth in the table, with an average A-road speed during the rush hour of 35.6mph. However, this is down 1.1mph compared to seven years ago.

Nationally, the average speed that peak-time commuters are able to travel on the UK's A roads is now only 24mph.

A combination of increases in traffic on the A road network and increased levels of rainfall are being blamed for reductions in average road speeds in both July and September this year, when the UK's roads were respectively 2.3 per cent and 1.9 per cent slower than the same months last year.

Also faring well were Thurrock in Essex, Northumberland, Peterborough and North Lincolnshire.

Last month Brigadier Greg Wilson, the man in charge of the new army brigade covering the county and the wider West Midlands region, said the excellent road links were a major factor in the decision to base the brigade at Donnington in Telford.

"It is about what we call lines of communication,"he said.