Date confirmed for Senedd debate on record breaking 20mph petition

Emily Price

A date has been confirmed for a debate on the record breaking Senedd petition calling for the 20mph default speed limit to be scrapped in Wales.

Chair of the Petitions Committee, Jack Sargeant last week confirmed that he had written to the Senedd’s Business Committee formally requesting a time for the petition to be debated by Members of the Senedd.

On Tuesday (April 30), the Business Committee informed Nation.Cymru the debate had been formally listed to take place in Cardiff Bay on Wednesday May 22nd.

The petition clocked up 469,570 signatures – the most in Senedd history – following the role out of the controversial road regulation in September 2023.

U-turn

News of the Senedd debate comes amid a partial u-turn from the Welsh Government on how the speed limit is implemented by local authorities.

The new Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Ken Skates announced earlier this month that 20mph guidance for councils would be revised so that some roads can switch back to 30mph.

Mr Skates admitted that the cost of revising roads could be up to £5 million.

This is in addition to the roughly £34 million it cost to roll out the new speed limit in Wales.

The Transport Secretary said: “We’ve started by listening. I have been clear in all my conversations that we will put communities at the heart of our thinking and will listen to people.”

A Senedd source told us the announcement from the Transport Secretary was “no different from what was already planned and underway”.

The Welsh Conservatives say “nothing has changed”.

The petition asking the Welsh Government to “rescind and remove the disastrous 20mph law’ was launched by Mark Baker.

He says the Welsh Government “could not have ignored it” given the number of people who signed.

Mr Baker told Nation.Cymru the partial u-turn by the Transport Secretary “does not go anywhere near far enough”.

He is still calling for the policy to be scraped entirely.

‘Diabolical’

Mr Baker said: “The Welsh Government putting the onus on local authorities means that it’s going to be a wash of confusion as some will do it and some won’t.

“We will keep fighting until this diabolical policy is removed, either by Labour or by voting them out and getting the Conservatives to.”

An investigation was launched last year to look at where 20mph petition signatures were coming from and if the Senedd’s system was being tampered with in any way.

There was some evidence of some small scale duplication of signatures and some rather bizarre names were recorded such as ‘Rupert the Bear’.

But overall, the majority of the signatures came from people in Wales with valid postcodes and email addresses.

The number of people who signed it surpassed the number of those who voted for Labour in the 2021 Senedd election (443,047 votes).

Shadow Transport Minister Natasha Asghar says residents have made their voices heard.

She said: “Labour’s 20mph speed limit scheme is poised to deliver a £9bn blow to our economy, and is consequently hampering people’s day-to-day lives, slowing down emergency services and affecting businesses.

“There is absolutely a place for speed reduction measures in certain areas, but the approach taken by Labour ministers is far too drastic and unnecessary.

“Whilst we have seen a change in tone from the new government, it is clear 20mph is here to stay as they have no intention of rescinding their £33m policy.

“The people of Wales do not want this 20mph speed limit scheme and I hope Ministers will see sense when this petition is debated in the next few weeks.”