Liverpool City Council is going to consult about which residential streets could become 20mph roads. This could see quite a few extra places getting the slower speed limit. The change could make quite a difference to people's safety. If you are hit by a car at 20mph you are likely to live. If the speed is 40 you are likely to die.
Councils up and down the country are now able to do this a lot faster and with more ease than they could previously. While some places (Portsmouth is the example that is quoted most often) have already made this sort of change, there used to be loads of red tape. Last week though Norman Baker, who is one of the Lib Dems in government, announced some changes which meant that a lot of that red tape, and some of the expense, disappeared.
What he said was, ‘if councils and local communities want to put in place 20 mph schemes on residential roads or use common-sense measures such as variable speed limits outside schools, then they should be able to do so without spending time and money satisfying unnecessary Whitehall diktats.’
The key changes in the process are:
Many of the current restrictions and obstacles to rolling out 20mph zones are being removed so that residential roads can be implemented with cheaper and less signs.
Importantly councils will no longer require approval from Government to introduce 20 mph zones.
Which brings me to the issue at hand. Liverpool hasn't been explicit yet about how it will consult and how it will make the decisions, but I am keen to get some information in to help people in roads that know they would support the change.
So, if you live in a road where you think this would be a good idea, please drop me an e mail to paula.keaveney@liverpool.gov.uk. Obviously I need to know your name and contact details and the road you are talking about .
In Cressington some of you will already have had notes from me about this but there's no reason to wait if you want to get in touch.
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