Police warn against 'over-reliance' on force for speed limits in Cornwall

Cornwall Council wants to limit speeds in residential areas to 20mph

Enforcement of new lower speed limits across Cornwall will be reliant on drivers not police, the force has said.

Cornwall Council wants to reduce the default speed limit to 20mph in all residential areas which are currently 30mph.

However police have told Cornwall Council officers that while they support the plan they will not have the capacity to enforce the new rules.

A pilot scheme is being planned with a county-wide rollout in October 2022.

The project was a key manifesto pledge by the Conservatives ahead of the elections in May which saw them take control of County Hall.

Supt Adrian Leisk of Devon and Cornwall Police told the council's economic growth and development overview and scrutiny committee that while road policing teams were being increased in Cornwall it would not be possible to enforce the lower limits in all areas.

He said: "Our note of caution would be around the behavioural changes that we all want to occur. Changing the number on a road sign without a comprehensive communication scheme will not work."

As reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Supt Leisk said it was hoped the new 20mph zones would lead to a behavioural change in drivers but that there could not be an "over-reliance" on enforcement.

There are already 20mph zones in some locations in Cornwall, the majority are on roads outside and leading to schools.

There were some concerns at the committee meeting that some areas were expecting to see the 20mph zones rolled out sooner due to the prominence the idea was given by the council.

Edwina Hannaford said that "the cat is out of the bag already" and said that parish councils in her area had already drawn up a list of roads they would like included in the scheme.

The committee agreed unanimously that the pilot scheme should go ahead and that the cabinet member for transport pursue a scheme where 20mph is a county-wide default position and a report be brought back to council in a year.