Communities to get new powers over 20mph zones

Plans to make it easier for residents to request 20mph limits have been approved

Communities in Lincolnshire could be given more powers to request 20mph (32km/h) speed limits.

On Friday, Lincolnshire County Council agreed to make it easier to introduce new zones in residential and other built-up areas.

The authority also agreed existing 20mph advisory limits outside schools would become compulsory.

The proposals will go through the scrutiny process before any changes to policy are made.

Richard Cleaver, the independent councillor who brought the motion, said it was about making the system "easier and more open and transparent".

Previously, requests to lower a speed limit in an area were usually made by a school, individual or parish council via their local councillor.

Cleaver called for a formal route to allow a community to approach the council directly, a measure he believed would "make communities feel safe and empowered".

Richard Cleaver says there will be no blanket reduction in speed limits

He urged the council to publish "a clear 20mph policy" which sets out the criteria against which such a request would be assessed.

However, he said no one was suggesting introducing a blanket reduction from 30mph to 20mph, as happened in built-up areas of Wales – a move that caused controversy among drivers.

Councillor Richard Davies, the highways portfolio holder at the council, said "taxpayers' money needs to be targeted where it's most needed" and any action should be "evidence-based".

"It could be lowering the speed limit or it could be other things, like educating motorists," he said.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said it supported the measure.

Caitlin Taylor, road safety manager for the charity, said reducing speed limits to 20mph "has been shown to significantly lower the risk and severity of accidents" and urged the council to adopt a clear policy for 20mph zones.

At the meeting, Cleaver said: "This is about empowering our local communities.

"This is not about imposing a top-down, one-size-fits-all policy on them, and it's not about enforcing 20mph speed limits where communities don't want them."

Instead of a new policy being implemented, the changes will be made to an existing policy, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

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