The Smiley SID sign frowns at drivers if they are going too fast and smiles at those obeying the speed limit.

Coun Rosanna Reed said: "It's a great idea to make people slow down as they're coming through Wooler."

The sign costs £4838 but Coun Anthony Murray has agreed to allocate £3000 from his small schemes allowance at Northumberland County Council towards it. Wooler Parish Council will fund the remainder from its reserves.

It is planned to put the sign at the southern entrance to the town near the Riverside Caravan Park, although permission from the highways authority is still needed.

Servicing of the sign will be the parish council's responsibility, although members were told the battery has a minimum three year life span.

Earlier this year a survey carried out on the A697, a few hundred yards into the town from the 30mph signs on the southerly approach, found that some motorists were clocking speeds of up to 38mph.

But although the figures showed that a number of people were speeding in the town, the statistics did not warrant further enforcement action, according to guidelines set down in the Northumbria Safer Roads Initiative.