Sunak vows to stop 20mph zones and review LTNs

Rishi Sunak says he wants to stop "hare-brained" road calming and safety schemes, including 20mph zones, to end what he says is a "war on motorists".

The prime minister said he wanted to ensure such measures would no longer be "forced" on drivers.

There will also be a review of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, or LTNs, in England to ensure they are not introduced without local support.

The Labour Party described the plans as "pure hypocrisy".

The Department for Transport has also announced plans for a single national parking app in England which will remove the need for motorists to use several different platforms to pay for parking.

It comes weeks after the PM delayed the introduction of a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars.

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In an interview with the Sun, Mr Sunak said he was "slamming the brakes on the war on motorists, it's as simple as that".

"What we want to do now is make sure that all these hare-brained schemes that are forced on local communities, whether it's Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, blanket 20mph speed limits, all of that... need to stop."

He conceded that 20mph zones near schools "make sense" but said they should not be done in a "blanket way" - criticising the Welsh government's decision to drop the default speed limit from 30mph to 20mph for restricted roads.

The Labour-run Welsh government predicts the change will save up to 100 lives and 20,000 casualties in the first decade.

LTNs are aimed at reducing traffic in residential streets, and improving access for pedestrians and cyclists with dedicated lanes, wider pavements and planters blocking off vehicle access.

Speed limits of 20mph are designed to reduce the severity of injuries suffered in accidents. The implementation of such schemes is the responsibility of local authorities.

The government said its plan would:

• Review guidance on 20mph speed limits in England, to prevent their use in "areas where it's not appropriate"

• "Amend guidance" on LTNs "to focus on local consent", and weigh public support for those already introduced

• Stop councils implementing "15-minute cities", where essential amenities are always within a 15-minute walk

• Seek to reduce the hours where cars are banned from bus lanes

• Target "overzealous" enforcement of parking

• Consult on extending fines for disruptive street repairs which run into weekends

Mr Sunak said: "For too long politicians have focused on the short-term decisions with little regard for the long-term impact on hardworking families.

"We've seen this consistently with people's freedoms on transport."

He claimed a "clamp down on drivers" was "an attack on the day-to-day lives of most people... who rely on cars to get to work or see their families".

"We are taking the necessary decision to back the motorists who keep our country moving."

An LTN in Bath, which reduces access for vehicles

Transport Secretary Mark Harper underlined that guidance would be strengthened to make it harder for road schemes to be introduced in a blanket way - because doing so "makes life harder for drivers, doesn't deliver any benefits" and could instead damage the ability of 20mph speed limits to make people safer, "because if you put them in inappropriate places, people are less likely to comply even where they make sense".

Mr Harper also told BBC Radio 4's Today programme"we want them put in place where they make sense" such as "outside a school, or in a heavily built up area where you might have children playing, or where there's a particular issue with accidents".

But writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh posted previous commitments by the Conservatives to LTNs, adding: "Whose hare-brained idea was it in the first place?"

"It's pure hypocrisy to see Rishi Sunak denounce a policy the Tories have been instrumental in delivering. The only dividing line he has is with his own government."

Chief executives of Bikeability Trust, British Cycling, Cycling UK, Living Streets, Ramblers and Sustrans said the government was "entrenching congestion and reliance on driving for short local journeys".

"This is a plan that looks no further than one way of travelling and will make the roads worse for those occasions when people do need to drive," they said.

The latest plans follow the prime minister's revision of his government's net zero policies, which delays the ban on new diesel and petrol cars from 2030 to 2035.

The move provoked a backlash, with the Climate Change Committee - the government's independent advisers on cutting carbon emissions - saying the UK had "moved backwards".

It also follows the Conservative Party's narrow byelection victory in Uxbridge, Boris Johnson's former seat, after fighting a campaign focused on local opposition to the expansion of London's ultra-low emission zone.