LYING more than 80 miles from the border with Wales, the village of Great Kingshill has not previously played a great role in the Welsh language movement.

And yet as controversy raged this week over the use of English in Wales, Great Kingshill residents found some of their own road signs were now in both Welsh and English.

Could it be that the Welsh language movement had taken its fight into the heart of the South Bucks countryside?

Terry Williams, of Stag Lane, Great Kingshill, drove past one of the signs, warning that there were no road markings because of road surfacing work in Spurlands End Road.

Mr Williams, whose own family is welsh, said: "We drove past and my wife said, 'Wasn't that sign in Welsh?'.

"I've been to Wales and seen the signs there but why in the middle of Buckinghamshire? Are there a lot of Welsh illegal immigrants coming in?"

Jane Spencer of Great Kingshill Residents Association also spotted the signs and others were seen along the M40. Last Friday radio stations were warning people about the signs after calls from motorists.

Motorists whizzing past on the motorway thought they had mistaken Wrexham for Wycombe and the Brecon Beacons for Beaconsfield after seeing the signs.

But fears of a Welsh language takeover were proved to be a groundless when a spokeswoman for highways authority Buckinghamshire County Council explained why the signs had appeared.

She said: "The contractors we use do a lot of work in England and Wales. When they came back from a job in Wales, they brought back the wrong signs."

The spokeswoman stressed that the signs were in English as well as Welsh so motorists were warned about roadworks and said the signs will be changed so only the English version will appear.