More roads in Cambridgeshire should be made eligible for 20mph zones, say county councillors

More roads in Cambridgeshire could become eligible for a 20mph speed limit following a discussion by county councillors.

The council wants to implement more 20mph zones to improve road safety and is developing a scheme to enable residents to apply for one.

At a meeting of the highways and transport committee last week, councillors created a working group to develop the plans.

They suggested that the proposed criteria by which roads could be eligible should be expanded.

Council documents had said a 20mph speed limit could be appropriate for built-up areas and residential development or community space, where vehicles and vulnerable road users are expected to mix.

The documents stressed that community support for a 20mph zone would need to be assessed, and that the opinions should be sought from local councillors and parish councils, with weight given to petitions and community views as well.

Under the original proposals, it was suggested that places would only be considered for a 20mph zone if two of the three following criteria were met:

The current mean speeds are at or below 24mph.

There is a depth of residential development or community space (eg high street) and evidence of pedestrian and cyclist movements within the area.

There is a record of injury collisions (based on police collision data) within the area, over a period of the last five years.

Councillors suggested the assessment of the current average speed criteria should be changed, arguing the requirement may defeat the purpose of the new scheme.

Cllr Alex Beckett (Lib Dem, Queen Edith’s) said: “What we want here is actually a reduction in speed and a reduction in casualties. I think most of us are less concerned about just signposting roads.

“It seems that where we have a road that is already 24mph or below, putting a 20mph sign in front of it is simply just signposting - it’s not actually doing what we want to do, which is reduce the speed down.

“I notice in our own papers here that even where we’ve said we don’t have other measures, putting a 20mph zone in does reduce casualties by six per cent, which I think all of us here will be saying is a very good thing to be doing and something that we should be doing, even when it’s outside of the 24mph limit that we keep mentioning.”

The importance of community support was also raised.

Cllr Simon King (Con, Roman Bank and Peckover) said the changes need to be from the “bottom up”.

The committee agreed for a cross-party working group to be set up to develop the 20mph schemes and agree the prioritisation parameters.

Earlier this month, 20’s Plenty campaigner Diane Fitzmaurice spoke at a meeting of Cambridge City Council’s planning and transport scrutiny committee to call for a reduction in the default speed limit.

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