Cutting speeds on rural roads where residents have raised concerns would cost upwards of £60,000 - with the signs for a new 30mph area costing £20,000 on their own.
And those costs could more than double if measures are taken on three roads. The council could face a hefty bill to install speed reduction measures around Westfield, Cathlaw Lane in Torphichen and at Slackend crossroads, as villagers want.
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Roads engineers have said that traffic stays within the 40mph limits and measures are not needed. West Lothian Council's executive was asked to support that.
Local councillors Labour's Andrew McGuire and Independent, Stuart Borrowman backed villagers who say the existing measures take no account of the road conditions - blind summits, narrow, tight bends, and the fact that the roads have no pavements but are widely used by pedestrians including school children.
On Westfield Road, signs would cost £20,000 - but engineers added that on their own these would have little impact on cutting speeds, while the installation of lighting columns as part of measures to slow traffic coming into Westfield could push the costs to £50- £60,000.
Councillor McGuire raised a motion calling for a detailed report on costs to be brought back to the next meeting of the executive before a final decision was made.
The Conservatives demanded a report on costs be brought to the full council for decision where a vote could be taken by all councillors.
The Conservative motion, which was echoed by group leader Damian Doran-Timson in a later paper discussing speeding in Mid Calder, pointed out that the Accident Investigation prevention ( AIP) scheme, which governs changes to road safety, was a failed policy by the council's own standards.
Councillor McGuire’s motion said the executive should investigate: “whether there is a budget available to fund any such works .”
The Labour dominated executive approved the motion by one vote.
Councillor Borrowman urged Labour members to consider spending promises that had been made in the past to the Armadale and Blackridge ward.
After the meeting he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I think the case for speed limit reductions here speak for themselves.
“The present administration has certainly underspent in this area and this is one of a number of projects that might help offset that a little.
“The votes today suggest that the Conservatives, SNP and I support taking action; that is 23 votes against Labour’s 10 if it had gone to full Council as proposed.
“Labour’s insistence the matter goes to the committee on which they have a built-in majority we have to hope is only procedural and not an attempt to block this.”
Councillor McGuire commented after the vote: “Although far from decided, the decision today by the council executive is an important one and allows the final decision on speed reduction on the village to be made by elected councillors not roads officers.
“The original petition called for a 30 mph speed limit on these roads because villagers were concerned that the speed limits which inform driving conditions did not marry up with the road condition and that seems to have been lost on this exercise.
“I'd like to commend villagers for continuing to push this issue and for the energy they have brought to this campaign.”
