Most residents support 20mph zones, report says

Cornwall Council has been introducing 20mph (32km/h) zones across the county

Feedback on introducing 20mph (32km/h) zones has been "mostly positive", according to a report.

Cornwall Council's Sustainable Growth and Place Scrutiny Committee heard the roll-out of a £4.5m scheme to bring the slower speed limits to the county was "progressing well" since it started in 2022.

A report said feedback from areas where the speed limit had been brought in showed most residents in all but one of the areas, St Austell, were in favour of the zones, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The programme is due to be completed in 2027.

Councillors were told crashes in Falmouth and Penryn, where the scheme was piloted, had reduced by 17% while road casualties had dropped by 21%, which included an elimination of fatalities.

The meeting heard the figures in Camelford, another pilot area for the scheme, had greater reductions in crashes (57%) and road casualties (42%).

Devon and Cornwall Police told councillors the force had prosecuted about 11,000 offences in 20mph limits in Cornwall in 2024.

Councillor Martyn Alvey said his ward of Feock and Kea had been one of the areas where 20mph zones had been brought in.

He said while not everyone liked it, the overall sense was it had been popular.

The Conservative councillor said: "The feedback is overwhelmingly that it's a much nicer place to walk around the village now the traffic is slower."

Mark Gibbons, independent councillor for Looe East and Deviock, added: "In an area like London or an urban environment where you're subject to 20mph for the duration of your two-hour journey it can be quite frustrating.

"But certainly in an environment where you're slowing down to enter a residential area it's been very well received."