Cheshire West & Chester Councillors agreed wide area 20mph limits on 6^th January 2016. It’s a great win – both as a model for other authorities with dispersed communities and for 20’s Plenty for Chester. 

Cheshire West and Chester’s cabinet have asked officers to roll-out mandatory 20mph limits for most residential roads throughout the authority. Waiving aside red-tape, Councillors are now taking direct responsibility for setting 20mph limits for its population of 332,000. The delivery plan for this key community initiative to improve Cheshire towns and places includes the decisions:-

(1)   To approve the implementation of 20 mph limits on residential roads across the Borough where mean speeds on most roads are currently less than 24 mph and around schools where the mean speed is currently less than 30 mph.

(2)   To endorse the preparation and development of a report detailing which areas would benefit the most from the revised speed limit and how the schemes would be prioritised and a work programme formulated for consultation.

(3)   Include £200,000 per year for four years within the Council’s capital programme to be funded from LTP grant or other available external funding. (£800k total)

(4)   To approve appropriate delegated powers and authority to enable the Head of Service (Place Operations) in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Infrastructure, to develop and implement the programme for roll out of 20 mph speed limits in residential areas and around schools.

(5)   To approve the change to consultation requirements, to streamline the process for introduction of 20 mph speed limits

Adoption of wide-area 20mph limits as a cost-effective initiative for authorities with distributed communities such as exist in Cheshire West & Chester is growing.  Other examples are Lancashire, North East Somerset and Calderdale in West Yorkshire.

Rod King MBE, Founder of 20’s Plenty for Us, who spoke at the cabinet meeting said:-

“Wide-area 20mph limits have been embraced by most of the UK’s larger authorities. Now we are seeing this important initiative increasingly supported by authorities with distributed communities. By endorsing the public consensus that 20 is plenty for most community roads Cheshire West and Chester Councillors have recognised that people in villages and towns have as much right to safer, more liveable streets as their urban residents. We are delighted that Chester will have 20mph as standard for its streets like other iconic cities including Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, York, Edinburgh, Bath and many others where 20 is plenty where people live, work, shop and learn.  ”

More information is at http://www.20splenty.org/cheshire_west_chester_council

Details of the annual Ready for 20 conference on 26^th February at City of London Guildhall are at http://www.20splenty.org/ready_for_20_conference  Impressive expert speakers are giving case studies and research presentations. Local authority representatives including councillors, transport and public health professionals, can cost effectively learn best practice on 20mph implementation, social marketing and more. Bookings are open. 

Open PDF