20mph County Campaigning Options

Organising a 20mph campaign at county council level has many advantages. Our new email a decision maker facility will  work best when communities across an authority work together. There’s power in numbers and especially in focussing on updating policy rather than competing to be a 20mph exception in an otherwise 30mph county.

County Level 20mph Campaign

Campaign for Individual Village or Town in a County

Aim: Change speed management policy – strategic normalising of 20mph aim. Proactive, pre-emptive campaigning eg to get into planning rules that all new developments are 20mph by design.

Aim: Fight for a 20mph exception to speed policy – exceptions based aim – this place is ‘special’. Reactive, retrospective campaigning

Eg Lancashire, Calderdale, Bath & NE Somerset

Eg Maintain an “only here or here” policy

Rationale is of 20mph as the norm

Rationale is of 20mph as a special case

Moral high ground of values-based campaigning on eg reducing population level problems protecting all children, elderly, climate change, air quality.

Usually focussed around a few locations like near schools or shops or a new housing estate. Roads the campaigner’s family use

Targets are firstly the Cabinet member for transport and secondly the Dir of Public Health who have budgets to pay

Targets are the Local Councillor, Borough Council, even though they might still need funds and agreement from the Cabinet member for transport too.

Policy-makers can set the right policy and then officers (highways employees eg engineers/road safety staff) can implement based on new policy.

Officers based on current policy “manage expectations” of local communities with no power to influence policy or create exceptions.

Argue with population data that has statistical significance

Data is local. Therefore problems with small numbers and statistical validity of eg injury incidents

New email a decision maker facility useful if coordinated so that many emails are sent from around the county

Email a decision maker from only one town may reinforce a false perception of limited desire for 20mph.

Success is funding for a rolling programme (usually) of wide area limit for all built up areas agreed with exceptions made for 30mph roads. Public Health monies contribute and can be more cost effectively deployed.

Funding is scarce. Compete against other places for tight 20mph exceptions funds

Campaigners from different places work for the common good of changing policy and team up to be powerful

Campaigners compete against other places/schemes to prove  that their place is ‘special’.

Team of people to share the workload of eg contacting councillors. Less campaigner burn out as more inputs?

Fewer people with fewer skills and perhaps less time overall to contribute to effective campaigning. More campaigner burn out as one person stops or moves on?

Scrutiny or a motion to full council are policy change options. Aim is then winning party blocks of votes on those committees. Ie getting backing of Labour, Conservative, Lib Dems, Greens, Independents maybe through the leaders of those parties or into election manifestos

Possibly chasing smaller funding pots from local area committees, parish funds, or individual back bench councillors without much power or influence

Driver compliance backed by mass behavioural change advertising and some light touch police enforcement

Driver compliance low as it’s an exception to 30mph remaining normal across the county for residential roads

 

Rod King MBE, Founder and Campaign Director for 20’s Plenty commented:

“Where a county has a policy that sets 20mph limits as an exception rather than the norm for its community streets, then it will never deliver the streets what communities want. We recommend campaigning to challenge and change the policy so that all communities can gain the benefits of an authority-wide default 20mph limit.”

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