A SPEED indication device (SID) bought by the town council at the end of last year has not been used in Cockermouth - due to restrictions imposed by the county council, a recent meeting heard.
Resident Peter Wilkinson, a retired energy and utilities manager, volunteered to administer the new unit - which cost £2,954.03 - and to extract and process its data.
He attended a council meeting last December to discuss the way ahead.
Mr Wilkinson recently emailed the council, saying: "The Highways Department intervened and issued all manner of rules and regulations associated with the control of these units, preventing me from using the unit until further discussions had taken place."
A council meeting was scheduled for January but never took place as the county council representative was unavailable, said Mr Wilkinson.
"I have since had other contacts with her where she was going to rearrange a meeting but nothing has materialised.
"I sent her a copy of all the current locations where the original unit had been used, along with copies of the reports we used to produce," he said.
Clerk Sheila Brown said she had since been told that only four locations are permitted for use by the county council: Lamplugh Road, Lorton Road, Gote Road and Castlegate Drive.
The first SID was bought in 2010 and had previously also been used on Windmill Lane and Low Road.
"Six were agreed initially in 2010, so I will ask what happened to the other two?" said Mrs Brown.
Cllr Alan Tyson said: "We have got nothing in Cockermouth and had to buy this device.
"For us to buy this and then them come and say it's not compatible with what they want is wrong.
"The whole idea of a SID is to put it where the problems are."
Councillors agreed that the county council should be asked to clarify the situation.
A county council spokesperson said: “We work as part of Cumbria Road Safety Partnership to deal with requests for placing Speed Indicator Device units (SID) within communities and are always happy to liaise with town council’s and other groups on such requests.
"A county council representative was unable to attend the Cockermouth Town Council meeting in January but we’re absolutely committed to working with their Members and other agencies in the road safety partnership to agree locations for the SID unit so that it can be installed as quickly as possible.”
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