“Could the Council please state how many roads in Carmarthenshire, previously designated as 30mph roads, have been changed to 20mph both as a number and percentage; and what is this Authority’s stance on supporting enforcement of the policy?”
Minutes:
“Could the Council please state how many roads in Carmarthenshire, previously designated as 30mph roads, have been changed to 20mph both as a number and percentage; and what is this Authority’s stance on supporting enforcement of the policy?”
Response by Councillor Edward Thomas – Cabinet Member for Transport, Waste and Infrastructure Services
The introduction of Welsh Government’s legislation The Restricted Roads (20mph Speed Limit)(Wales) Order 2022 obliged local authorities to implement default 20mph speed limits on all restricted roads in Wales in place of the previous 30mph default limit. Restricted roads are legally defined within the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 as roads with a system of street lighting in place. This generally applies to the majority of roads within Carmarthenshire’s towns and most villages. To implement the new default limit, larger urban areas and settlements, local authorities had to change only the speed limit signs on the boundary of the area to automatically include all of the restricted roads within. However, there is complexity within this to acknowledge.
There are a number of roads, for example the A484 from Llanelli through Carmarthen and on to Newcastle Emlyn, which now have numerous sections of 20mph through settlement areas such as Sandy Road, Burry Port, Carmarthen town and Newcastle Emlyn, but higher speed limits between the settlements. As a consequence, one single road may have many lengths which have defaulted from 30mph to 20mph. To answer the question, an analysis of data within our mapping system indicates there to be 2567 lengths of road with street lighting defaulted to 20mph. However, it should also be acknowledged that of these 2567 lengths, at least 300 lengths of road were already subject to 20mph restrictions prior to the legislation in the Llanelli area alone. Where existing 20mph limits were previously in place by virtue of a Traffic Regulation Order, the Orders had to be revoked to enable the wider legislation restriction to take precedence. In total 76 Traffic Regulation Orders had to be revoked which each Order covering single or groups of streets.
One of the key aims of the County Council in implementing the legislation was to provide consistency for road users. In a number of instances, particular roads had streetlighting only over part of its length. This typically occurred towards the settlement boundary where development extended beyond the limit of the street lighting. In such cases, a Traffic Regulation Order was required to extend the 20mph limit to the commencement of the settlement area so that road users were presented with a clear understanding that they were entering into an urban environment. There were 417 lengths of road treated in this way through a Traffic Regulation Order.
Local authorities in Wales were advised by Welsh Government that they could make exceptions of the default 20mph limit to retain a 30mph in particular circumstances and Welsh Government provided guidance for local authorities to follow when assessing the potential for certain roads to be exceptions. Within Carmarthenshire, Orders were created for 278 lengths of road which effectively retained a 30mph limit, which equates to 7.3% of the former 30mph roads. Welsh Government is currently reviewing its guidance to local authorities on setting exceptions to the legislation.
And what is the Authority’s stance on supporting enforcement of the policy?
The relationship between traffic speed and risk is well evidenced and Welsh Government suggest that the new 20mph speed limits will result in a 40% reduction in vehicle collisions. Compliance with the new limits is a key factor and with that so is enforcement which helps encourage compliance. Local authorities are not empowered to enforce speed limits and within Carmarthenshire the power is within the remit of Dyfed Powys Police and the GoSafe Partnership. The County Council does support the encouragement of motorists to adhere to posted speed limits through educational initiatives which are particularly targeted towards school sites and community-based projects.
Supplementary Question by Councillor James
Based on what has been said by the Deputy Minister, do you believe that Carmarthenshire Council has utilised its exemption policy correctly, and the Dyfed Powys Police has stated that signage needs to be clear to enforce the policy so is there a plan in place from the Council to ensure that all damaged signage is going to be replaced if any enforcement is going to take place?
Response by Councillor Edward Thomas – Cabinet Member for Transport, Waste and Infrastructure Services
I can assure the member that we will replace any damaged signs so that it is clear what the speed limits within those areas are.