Welsh council approves reversal of 20mph roads

Alec Doyle – Local democracy reporter

Councillors have backed proposals to reverse 20mph speed limits on 52 roads following a public consultation.

Wrexham council’s Executive Board was asked to rule on the matter due to the legal liability of increasing speed limits after the Welsh Government issued a blanket policy to change restricted roads to 20mph in September 2023.

Nationally a 500,000 name petition was handed in to the Welsh Government challenging the policy. Afterwards it offered local authorities the chance to  consult with residents to reverse roads back to 30mph where there was a demand for it.

Through December and January Wrexham County Borough Council carried out a public consultation, with 93% of public responses in favour of restoring 30mph speed limits on 52 roads.

Lobbying

“We’ve done this very carefully in line with Welsh Government guidance,” said Wrexham council’s deputy leader David Bithell. “We have had lots and lots of people lobbying the local authority and elected members to go back to 30mph, we’ve also had people lobbying us to retain 20mph limits as well.

“We’ve had lots of representation from UK Cycling, 20s Plenty, all those organisations who want to retain speeds at 20mph.

“So we’ve taken a careful, measured approach to make sure that everybody is satisfied that the safety and risks are mitigated.before we introduce changes to speed limits.

“This process is not our doing. As a local authority we are picking up the pieces of what has been implemented by Welsh Government. But we have been working closely with the Cabinet Secretary to try to put the wrong right.

“It’s here today because Chief Officer for Environment and Technical Darren Williams has the delegated authority to change the speed limit. but it’s really important that we take collective responsibility as an Executive Board.”

Accidents

One reason for the desire to take collective responsibility is the legal liability over increasing speeds should there be an accident on the roads.

Contrary to some reports, Wrexham Council has been given no legal immunity from liability from Welsh Government in making these changes – which are classed as local speed limits leaving the council unwilling to put the decision in one person’s hands.

“We’ve not had any correspondence from Welsh Government to excuse local authorities of liability,” said Cllr Bithell. “It is down to the local authority.

“We will work with Go Safe with a target date of May 2025 to change the speeds back. There may also be other roads to consider and we will do that carefully and where appropriate.”

The plans were supported across the chamber.

“It’s been a very contentious issue,” said Cllr Rob Walsh. “The changes can’t come quick enough for many motorists and people in Wrexham. There will be some residents who are very nervous about this though. This proposal’s commitment to continue to assess roads in future is a welcome inclusion.

Questions

Cllr Marc Jones, leader of the Plaid Cymru group, added: “I’m broadly supportive of this move. The Welsh Government has questions to answer over this. They got it wrong and they are putting it right but we need to make sure they put it right completely.”

Labour group leader Cllr Dana Davies said: “Talking about the risk element, going from 40mph to 20mph people would brake harder,  so changing back to 30mph on those roads supports road safety and reduces community risk.”

Despite the approval of Executive Board, the process will now go through  further consultation with communities to ensure the changes are made safely and are communicated broadly.