Council’s 20mph reversal could be complete by end of July
Alec Doyle, local democracy reporter
The reversal of default 20mph speed limits on 52 roads in Wrexham could be completed by the end of July.
The Welsh Government faced a major public backlash across the country after enacting a default 20mph speed limit on all restricted roads in Wales last year.
Pressure
Following significant public and political pressure Welsh Government agreed to allow councils to reverse the default 20mph limit and to fund the changes.
Now, work to reverse the speed limits across Wrexham is underway.
“Work has started and I would imagine by the end of July most of our roads will be complete,” said deputy leader of Wrexham Council and Lead Member for Housing and Climate Change Cllr Dave Bithell.
“Contractors are in the process of contacting local members to ensure they are aware of changes in their wards,”
“It’s work in progress but by the end of July all those 52 roads that we agreed at Executive Board should be there or there abouts.”
Public consultation
A public consultation was carried out by Wrexham County Borough Council in January to determine whether the public supported reversing the 20mph speed limits imposed by the Senedd.
An overwhelming 93% of respondents said they were in favour of returning the speed limits to 30mph.
Wrexham council has faced some criticism over how long it has taken to implement the changes, but at the time of the consultation Cllr Bithell said the authority was keen to ensure the change was done correctly and with public safety a priority.
“Whenever we have considered road speeds, it has always been to reduce them,” he said. “We have never increased speeds as a council.
“There are a number of risks in increasing road speeds that we need to consider carefully. The most important one is the safety of drivers and pedestrians.
“Increasing speed increases the risk of harm if there is an accident so we need to get this right.”
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
Wrexham are very good at wasting money, if they had controlled the process in the begining, seeing what was being done in Gwynedd or by the Trunck Road agency then they may not have landed in the mess they are now in. As for the 93% of respondents, they just lumped all those that said a blanket yes to reversing the limit on all 52 roads but who did not respond on individual proposals. The Council did not want to interact on the individual proposals because there are a few that are not well thought out and do not, even… Read more »
Consider yourself lucky. Denbighshire had the fewest exemptions when the ludicrous law first came out and have now decided to recommend that no roads will be reverted back to 30mph.
Has anyone heard of right first time.
They are overpaid and not accountable .
Time for change. Why should the public foot the bill for their mistakes?
I have to attend speed awareness course for going over 20 mph in pontiets where you have to drive approx 3 miles at 20 mph then at the top of a small hill the 20 mph ends and a few feet 30 miles
It is a lonely 3 miles as there is rarely anyone out and about and cars overtaking me who don’t want to do 20 mph
It cost me £90 which I don’t have spare