Council 'has not gone far enough' with 20mph scheme

Cycling Rebellion founder Adam Osman called on BCP Council to “be bold” and make all residential roads and high streets a default 20mph speed limit. 

As reported, council officers have said a blanket 20mph roll-out cannot be done, but instead roads should be picked based on priority to lower the speed limit. 

Priorities would include how dangerous the road is and whether there have been crashes and injuries. 

Mr Osman said: “We are campaigning for 20mph as a default speed limit rather than each road being individually picked for 20mph. What the council has proposed is not tenable. 

“All residential streets, roads with narrow pavements, high streets such as Winton high street should be included.

Read more: Council needs £149k to start rolling out 20mph limits

“If they removed parking spaces along Winton high street and expanded the space for pedestrians and cyclists, that would be great – although we don’t want to take away people’s right to drive there. 

“Basically, any road which isn’t safe for pedestrians and cyclists should be 20mph.” 

Mr Osman, a keen cyclist, questioned the £300m figure the council’s report said it would cost for a complete roll-out. 

Of the benefits of a default speed limit, he said it would eradicate driver distraction from changing signs and monitoring speed limits which “would cause more mistakes”. 

“We can look at the information and the data, there are plenty of locations to choose from. There is the straight road going to the university where there have been cyclists killed on the roads. 

“So if there has been an accident, it would be a no-brainer. Most junctions you can apply logic to decide on what it should be.” 

He added: “There is an environmental emergency; we have to act this decade. It feels silly to halt progress this much. The council needs to be brave and act now.” 

BCP Council’s administration has been keen to roll out 20mph speed limits across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. 

A report said the council will have to ask for £149k from the government to start rolling out a lower speed limit in parts of the conurbation. 

The Welsh government took a decision to roll 20mph speed limit only schemes on residential roads nationally last year at a reported cost of around £32.5m. 

Go South Coast (owners of Morebus) warned that if not carefully considered, a drop to 20mph in BCP could “increase operational costs leading to some routes no longer being commercially viable”.  

The company added 20mph speed limits should be in place on roads “where it is appropriate”.  

Meanwhile the report by the council’s officers said that the benefits to slowing vehicles down on roads would include “promoting an increase in active travel” and making high streets “safer”.