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12
Oct 2022
Councillors call for 20 mph limit to be trialled in Harrogate and Knaresborough
A campaign for speed limits to be reduced from 30mph to 20mph has been backed by Harrogate and Knaresborough councillors who have called for the changes to be piloted in larger areas.
The slower limits were described as a “popular” way to make roads safer at a meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Constituency Committee.
However, not everyone is in support of the ’20s plenty’ campaign, with some councillors raising questions over enforcement and the costs involved.
The area committee voted nine for, two against and with one abstention in their calls for the county council’s executive to agree to test out 20mph limits in towns and villages.
But the authority is already standing firm in its belief that the lower speed limits work best in a more targeted approach, such as outside schools.
Allan McVeigh, head of network strategy at the county council, told the meeting that 20mph limits should only be introduced where they are “appropriate for that part of the network”.
He said:
Mr McVeigh said the costs of introducing lower speed limits across the Harrogate and Knaresborough area would exceed £1 million, although he added this could be more as roads where drivers regularly exceed 24mph would require more measures than just signage and road markings.
These extra measures could involve speed bumps and chicanes which councillors admitted are not always popular.
Read More:
- Majority of residents want 20mph speed limit, councillor says
- Calls for blanket 20mph speed limit dismissed again
Across North Yorkshire, more than 100 parishes have voted for default 20mph speed limits across built-up areas.
Campaign supporter Malcolm Margolis said that targeting schools only “achieves little or nothing”:
Ouseburn councillor Arnold Warneken also said it was “inadequate” to have the lower speed limits on just some streets and that questions over enforcement are a “smokescreen” for not introducing the changes on a wider basis.
He said:
Earlier this year, the county council’s executive approved a policy to introduce 20mph speed limits on a “targeted, evidence-based approach”.
This followed a review by the authority’s Transport, Economy and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee which will revisit the issue in January.
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