Southampton Hill Lane and Shirley Road set for 20mph U-turn

A 20mph limit was introduced on Hill Lane in 2022

A 20mph (32km/h) speed limit on two Southampton roads is set to be removed, less than two years after being introduced.

Southampton City Council said there had been concerns about the the limits in place on Hill Lane and Shirley Road.

Transport cabinet member Eamonn Keogh said it would not affect the rollout of 20mph zones elsewhere in the city.

Conservative opposition councillors said the U-turn would create an additional cost to taxpayers.

Hill Lane and Shirley Road were among 12 areas initially designated as 20mph zones in 2022 as part of the council's aim to improve road safety and encourage walking and cycling.

Speaking at a meeting of the council, Mr Keogh said the administration's view was that it was much easier for motorists to abide by one limit in an area rather than having 20mph side roads and a 30mph (48 km/h) main road.

He said the 20mph limit had "encouraged motorists to slow down".

Conservative Sarah Powell-Vaughan said the reversal showed the Labour administration was wrong to include the roads in the 20mph rollout and putting them back to 30mph would create an additional cost to taxpayers.

When questioned by Conservative group leader Peter Baillie, Mr Keogh's admitted there was a "difficulty" in enforcing the 20mph limit.

"We don't have the powers to enforce necessarily the 20," Mr Keogh said.

"The police do have the powers to enforce the 20 but unfortunately we have a police service that is chronically underfunded and has been chronically starved of resource and they are not able to support that."

Liberal Democrat councillor Sam Chapman said roads in Bassett and other parts of the city were still waiting to have a 20mph limit introduced.

Mr Keogh said central government should provide more funding for such schemes which he said were popular with residents.

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