Stoke Golding Parish Council say No to 20mph limits

In the same month that saw high profile commitments to 20 mph in the City of London and our second city Birmingham, Stoke Golding Parish Council unanimously reject 20 mph limits.

In a newsletter to residents they stated:
"The Parish Council discussed again the issue of a 20MPH speed limit and confirms that in their unanimous opinion that whilst safe streets are a priority and desirable, it would be misleading/pointless to give their opinion on a 20MPH zone when the present austerity cuts at County render it undeliverable, coupled with a lack of enforcement by police”. This comes after protracted discussions with the Parish Council following a significant random survey of the village in late 2012. With 76% of respondents identifying speed as an issue and 67% supporting a village wide 20mph speed limit (only 22% opposed), we not unreasonably expected the Parish Council to support the majority view.

We had always anticipated problems with a Local Authority that is short of cash and which has failed to revise its speed limit strategy following new government guidance on speed limits issued earlier this year. We have looked at the historic accident data for Stoke Golding and the forecast savings from speed reductions should pay the modest amount for a 20 mph sign only scheme within a year. We also recognise that enforcement is a challenge which is why we are pleased that the Association of Chief Police Officers earlier this month updated its guidance on enforcement of speed limits. This sees the enforcement of 20 mph limits taken much more seriously with tougher penalties for those who wilfully offend.

The change to 20 mph limits where people live is a movement, and it will take time to normalise this behaviour. It is not anti motorist - it actually has minimal impact on journey times. It is about a more equitable sharing of the public space where people live, socialise and travel. Towns and cities are getting the message in a big way with local authorities covering more than 11 million residents having now committed to 20 mph limits. Over the last several months there have been significant announcements of widespread implementation in Birmingham, London (City and many boroughs), Oxford, Liverpool, Manchester, Leicester and Brighton, to name but a few. These will join pioneering cities such as Portsmouth, Bristol and Hull who are now reaping the benefits in terms of lower accidents rates and increased walking and cycling. One day people will look back and say "surely we didn't used to let cars travel at 30 mph were people live" in the same way that we now say "surely we didn't used to let people smoke in public places".

So nationally the picture is very upbeat and we are quite convinced that the implementation of 20 mph limits is no longer "IF" but "WHEN". 

We have talked to several other villages around the country and a 3 to 5 year campaign is not uncommon, but success has been achieved. We are therefore planning to join forces with other like minded groups in Leicestershire to try and influence county policy and consider how best to continue locally.

 

Update from Parish Council Meeting

Barwell SUE

We presented the results of the traffic survey (see previous post) to the Parish Council at the January meeting and we discussed how we could move forward towards implementing a 20 mph limit. 

The Parish Council’s view was that the best route forward was to combine the 20 mph "requirement" with a consideration of the impacts of the Barwell SustainableUrban Extension (SUE) development. The Barwell SUE proposals will see 2,500 homes built on the south western edge of Barwell - a huge development. Because employment opportunities will not be developed until the final phase, there will be 2,500 households needing to go "somewhere" to work. The concern is that many of them will be heading our way using Stoke Golding as a "rat run". The Parish Council is planning to partner with the neighbouring parishes of Higham, Peckleton and Sutton Cheney to address this issue. The parish councils are now looking at the possibility of engaging a traffic consultant to help better understand the impacts and to propose how these impacts can be mitigated and managed. The Streets4All group will contribute to the terms of reference for this study and will be involved in the study and follow on work.

The Streets4All group agreed this is a sensible way forward based on the following considerations:
a) it is difficult to treat 20 mph limits in isolation of the Barwell SUE because of its major potential impact;
b) this is probably the best opportunity to find a source of funding for implementing change.

So this is not going to be quick (but it never was). But rest assured that we have heard loud and clear what the village has said and we will continue to work to make the streets of Stoke Golding safer and more liveable.

Streets4All Stoke Golding Traffic Survey Results

Thank you to everybody who recently took part of the Stoke Golding traffic perceptions survey. It has taken a while longer than we hoped to publish the results and because of the issue around the solar farm we have deferred meeting the Parish Council until 9th Jan 2013. We will report the outcome of this meeting in a future blog post. But on to the results of the survey ...

A random sample of Stoke Golding residents were asked whether they strongly agreed, agreed, were neutral , disagreed or strongly disagreed with the following statements:

1. I support the vision for Stoke Golding streets

2. Traffic volume is an issue within the village

3. Traffic speed is an issue within the village

4. I support the introduction of a 20 mph speed limit throughout the village

Our Vision

We have a vision of people friendly streets which are attractive and where young and old feel safe; where drivers behave responsibly and where people are happy to walk and cycle. We want our streets to be alive and vibrant where people can live and socialise.

We had a fantastic response. 150 households were surveyed and we achieved returns from 124 households (83% response rate) and 209 residents. Statistically this ensures that the results are representative of all residents plus or minus 5%. We would like to thank residents for taking the time to complete the survey and for both their written and verbal comments.

The results are compelling. The graph opposite shows the count of how residents responded to each statement. The standout is how strongly residents identified speed as an issue and supported both the vision and the introduction of 20 mph limits. There is still significant concern over traffic volume, but this is clearly considered a lesser issue than speed.

The counts were translated into agree, neutral and disagree percentages and are shown in the table below.

Statement	agree	neutral	disagree
1. Vision	77%	16%	7%
2. Volume	60%	19%	22%
3. Speed	76%	12%	12%
4. 20 mph	67%	11%	22%

So the residents of Stoke Golding have had their say and have told us loud and clear that speed is a significant issue and they want vehicles to drive more slowly, specifically at no more than 20 mph. We must respond to that mandate. Specifically we intend to push forward for the introduction of a village wide "sign only" 20 mph limit. The next step is to get the support of the Parish Council.

Watch this space for developments ...

Parish Council give their support for 20mph survey

We went along to the October Parish Council to discuss our plans to survey the village regarding support for 20 mph speed limits. We are pleased to say that we left with support for the process and an undertaking to take on board the views that are expressed by residents.

We are finalising the survey now. Our plan is to distribute these wc 29th October and collect responses door to door the 2 weeks commencing 5th November. So hopefully we will have results to publish towards the end of November 2012.

Streets 4 All at the Annual Parish Meeting

Alan White presented his vision for Stoke Golding streets at the Annual Parish Meeting on 26th April 2012. Around 25 people listened to the presentation which was well received. There was a general consensus that there is a problem and good support for the vision. There was some discussion over what should and should not be done and some scepticism about the ability to get change implemented.
The notion of relocating the war memorial to the centre of the village was discussed. This would help create a sense of place and would be a visible demonstration that change is possible. This would help build momentum for the initiative.

Brian Ninness and Ruth Fisher kindly agreed to be involved - we need more people.

View the presentation (without the slideshow)