The maximum speed limit on 14 roads in Newport, Gwent, is to be changed back to 30mph from 20mph. A review of the Welsh government’s 20mph speed limit was announced last year following a public backlash.
The default 20mph speed limit, covering 37% of the Welsh road network, was brought in by the Welsh government in September 2023. Earlier this year, Newport council said 16 stretches of road could revert back to 30mph, according to the BBC.
Transport Minister Ken Skates previously said the decision to reverse parts of the controversial £34m default 20mph policy was in response to “consistent” concerns raised by “a lot of people”.
Last July, the Welsh government gave councils more flexibility to assess the “movement” and “road characteristics” of specific routes, beyond just proximity to schools, hospital and other key locations.
In March, the maximum speed limit on four busy roads in Cardiff was changed back to 30mph from 20mph, and in February it was announced more than 50 stretches of road in Wrexham would revert to 30mph.
It comes as the data for the first year of the policy showed there had been about 100 fewer people killed or seriously injured on 20 and 30mph roads.
Newport council invited residents to nominate roads they believed should have been exempted from the Welsh government’s decision to lower the nation’s default speed limit to 20mph.
Members of the public offered any objections or comments on those proposals, and the council received a total of 12 representations, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
A new report shows that after further consideration of the objectors’ claims, the council decided two of the original 16 roads would remain at 20mph. One was a stretch of Caerphilly Road between Bassaleg and Rhiwderin, which an objector said now felt “safer for pedestrians”.
The council said a lower speed limit was “appropriate” for the road, which has “narrow footways” and was an “established walking route to school”.
The other road to remain at 20mph is a section of Usk Road to the east of Caerleon. An objector also raised concerns the route was “well-used” by schoolchildren and people accessing the village.
The council said people “would feel unsafe about using the established route to walk to school safely” if the speed limit was increased to 30mph along a road which “carries a high pedestrian footfall, including young vulnerable children and the elderly”.
The council said “valid” objections were made in relation to other roads, but it judged those cases met the government’s criteria for exemptions, meaning they may be changed to 30mph speed limits.
(Pic: Yay Images)
