Council blows £348,000 on 20mph scheme for 20 of its areas

Council blows £348,000 on 20mph scheme for 20 of its areas – despite Rishi Sunak saying he would stop the war on motorists

• Cambridge Council is pushing forward with the scheme that will cover 20 areas

An English council has blown £348,000 on the 20mph scheme, despite Rishi Sunak insisting he will stop the war on motorists by halting the road calming plans.  

Last week, the Prime Minister said he would be limiting council powers when it comes to imposing the ‘anti-motorist’ 20mph speed limit and levying fines from traffic cameras. 

But this hasn’t stopped Labour-led Cambridge County Council from pushing forward with the initiative which will cover 20 of its areas, including Cottenham, Fulbourn, Girton, and Willingham.

Conservative councillor Alan Sharp said he had concerns about the ‘blanket schemes’, but he added for schools the 20mph speed limit was ‘important from a road safety point of view’.

Mr Sunak’s pro-cars pledges, which came ahead of the Tory conference, include a restriction on the number of hours a day that cars are banned from bus lanes and curbing the use of number plate recognition cameras. 

An English council has blown £348,000 on the 20mph scheme, despite Rishi Sunak insisting he will stop the war on motorists by halting the road calming plans

Last week, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he would be limiting council powers when it comes to imposing the ‘anti-motorist’ 20mph speed limit 

Police are expected to include the enforcement of the new speed limit in their routine activities. 

At a meeting yesterday, council officers said the initiative was ‘oversubscribed’, with 88 applications for its introduction made by community groups and town councils. 

Conservative councillor Bill Hunt said he was particularly supportive of 20mph limits near schools and the centre of villages and towns. 

Mr  Sunak told BBC Radio Manchester that the ‘vast majority of the journeys that people make are in their cars. The journeys that people use in Greater Manchester and across the North, it’s in their cars, right now, getting to work, taking their kids to school.

‘Making sure the roads are free of potholes, that’s priority number one people raise with me,’ he added.

In September, Mark Drakeford’s Welsh Labour government imposed a blanket 20mph across all built up residential areas – sparking outrage from residents who say their journeys now take twice as long and use twice as much fuel.

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