Agenda item

The Committee will receive a verbal update on 20mph zones.

 Presenters:

Councillor Nick Naylor, Cabinet Member for Transport.

Cllr Nick Naylor, Cabinet Member for Transport provided a verbal update on 20mph zones.

The following main points were noted:

·         The Council did not have a policy for permanent 20mph speed limits.

·         In accordance with Department for Transport (DfT) guidance the council did not support implementation of 20pmh limits if the current traffic was over 24mph, unless traffic calming was installed as part of the scheme.

·         DfT guidance notes that research into signed only 20mph speed limits showed these led to small reductions in traffic speeds, therefore these would be most appropriate where speeds are already low.Request for speed limit changes would only be consulted upon and implemented by the Council if they complied with DfT guidance.

·         Following the countywide speed review any changes to speed limits were required to be funded locally unless it is part of a developer funded scheme.

·         Successful 20pmh zones and limits should be self-enforcing. There should be no expectation on the police to provide additional enforcement unless explicitly agreed.

·         Currently in Buckinghamshire there was seven 20mph speed limit orders covering a wide number of roads and three 20mph limits installed on the Buckinghamshire road network. There were six roads under one 20mph speed limit order in Haddenham, which came into force in September 2020.

·         Transport for Buckinghamshire were not currently progressing requests for 20mph limits where existing speeds are in excess of 24 mph unless traffic calming was also proposed.

·         Monitoring would continue with regards to 20mph limits including; research with neighbouring local authorities on variations on policies in line with the DfT guidance, seeking police views,  monitoring the success of recently installed 20mph limits in Haddenham and the 2015 five year signed only 20mph pilot scheme trial at Ascott.

In response to questions the following points were noted:

·         It was requested the speed data from Hadenham and Ascott be provided to the committee at a future meeting.

·         Regarding the Haddenham scheme the speed was monitored just before implementation of the 20mph limit and the second was measured recently.  It was noted that the measurements had been requested to provide information on where speeding was closer to 20mph and not above 24mph.

·         With regards to reduction in speed limits from 60mph to 40mph it was confirmed that the police could enforced 40mph but they did not enforce 20mph limits.

·         If local members would like to investigate or implement 20mph schemes in an area these would be investigated, however there was no council policy as previously explained.

·         A member noted 20mph limits around primary and secondary schools would be investigated in their area and a survey would be brought to local communities and residents.

·         Individuals should limit their speeds and this was a challenge.  The police had limited resources and catch offenders when possible.

·         It was noted that the work could be undertaken with residents, local communities and councillors in areas where 20mph could be implemented.  These schemes would need to be generated and funded locally.

The Chairman thanked Nick for the update.