City of London hosted the 7^th National ‘Ready for 20mph’ conference in its prestigious Guildhall on 26 February. The UK’s big players on 20mph gave presentations to almost 100 attendees.

Cardiff’s cabinet member for Transport announced it will go 20mph.

20mph as a community wide limit is increasingly commonplace.  Councillors and transport and public health officers from the City of London, Edinburgh, Bristol, Transport for London and Lambeth explained the story of their successful 20mph implementations.  Over 15m people now live in 20mph cities, towns and villages including 11/13 of inner London boroughs and over half of the biggest 40 Local Authorities

Cardiff’s Cabinet Member for Transport Planning and Sustainabilty, Cllr Ramesh Patel announced from the floor that Cardiff will go 20mph. The scheme would be part funded by motoring infringement fines which is the first of its type in the UK.

Atkins, who were commissioned by the Department for Transport to study 20mph, gave very positive interim results from thousands of interviews and questionnaires in 15 case study areas. For instance, half of residents supported 20mph prior to implementation rising to 75% afterward. Two thirds of drivers said the new limits were a good idea. 60% of residents thought that 20mph had provided a safer environment. Three quarters of people felt that 20mph limits were beneficial for their community.

Green Mayoral candidate Sian Berry presented on her vision for 20mph across London for promoting sustainable transport, traffic reduction and better air quality. Mark Platt delivered the Lib Dem view for Caroline Pidgeon which also supports London-wide 20mph limits.

And Edinburgh were proudly showing the plans for Edinburgh to become the first 20mph city in Scotland. There will be “Ready for 20” conference discussing 20mph limits within a Scottish context on 8^th June.

Public Health was well represented by Lucy Saunders of Transport for London and Dr Adrian Davies from Bristol. Both stressed how an evidence base is crucial to increasing active lifestyles and the role of 20mph in delivering healthy streets. 80% of London’s open spaces are streets.  20mph limits promote pupils to get exercise to and from school for instance which is proven to lead to higher academic achievement.

Vincent Walsh from 20’s Plenty for Manchester was awarded 20mph campaigner of the Year and Adrian Berendt from 20’s Plenty for Kent explained the challenges he faced in campaigning in in the county.

Presentations can be viewed by clicking on the links in our agenda page here. 

Rod King MBE, Founder of 20’s Plenty for Us commented :-

“From the hosting and venue to the presentations and presenters, this was an excellent, informative and inspiring conference which reflects the huge success that the 20’s Plenty movement are achieving. Our thanks to all who took part.”

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