Debate on controversial 20mph speed limit for Worcestershire continues
Worcestershire's transport chief says it doesn't make sense to adopt any blanket speed limit
A debate on whether there should be blanket 20mph zones across Worcestershire is continuing after campaigners said it would improve safety.
It comes after the default speed limit in Wales was controversially brought down from 30mph on most residential roads.
The government has said it won’t be copying the move, adding that speed reductions would only be carried out where there is a “good reason”.
In Worcester, the Green Party’s Cllr Matthew Jenkins said it would make sense to cut the limit as it would improve road safety, encourage more people to ditch the car and walk or cycle instead and improve air quality.
With some areas of the city already 20mph, he told Greatest Hits Radio: “It’s quite a simple thing. It’s actually very low cost, you make that wide area 20 miles an hour, give a bit of space to cyclists and then you will find that actually those who can, will cycle.
“They’ll go ‘actually, I can now bring my kids, take them to school because the school run is a big issue in Worcester.”
He added: “There’s a small minority of people who say it’s controversial. There’s a lot of noise going on but actually if you talk to people in all of those areas, actually the majority of residents are always in favour.”
Conservative councillor Mike Rouse, Worcestershire County Council cabinet member for highways and transport, has ruled out any blanket zones.
He said decisions would be made on a case-by-case basis and it didn’t make sense to rollout any scheme across the whole county.
He said other traffic calming measures and chicanes had to go hand-in-hand with lower limits otherwise drivers will ignore the limit.
He said: “You have to do a lot of engineering work to avoid that problem and what you actually find is non-compliance is a huge issue if you take a blanket approach.
“It’s far better to take a sensible approach based on where needs a 20 mile an hour zone, like outside a school.”