Council to review 20MPH limits on ‘main roads’ but challenge Welsh Government to update guidance to match Senedd speeches

Wrexham Council are set to review some of the new 20MPH speed limit zones, however are pointing the finger at Welsh Government over the initial guidance issued, and are looking for recent ‘nuance’ changes from the Deputy Minister to be reflected in writing.

Wrexham.com spoke with Cllr Hugh Jones, the Lead Member at Wrexham Council who has overseen the roll out of the new law and subsequent exemptions locally (you can read out Q&A with him prior to the roll out here).

Cllr Jones told us, “When we implemented the limit we followed the Welsh Government guidelines, effectively, to the letter. There were areas where we were able to exercise discretion – but that was limited. The interesting thing that Lee Waters said in the Senedd was where the exemptions are not available to local authorities that the Welsh Government would consider them as well.

“So what we’re going to do is we’re going to look at the main, I call them spine, all those main roads, that feed into Wrexham. We are going to look at those in the first place. We will definitely be reviewing those limits on those roads, and see whether 20 is appropriate or whether 30 is more appropriate.

We pointed to recent comments by Deputy Minister Lee Waters in the Senedd last week, quoted in full below, where a ‘common sense’ approach was encouraged as councils rolled out the new law across Wales:

Lee Waters MS: …the debate has shifted. There now seems to be a broad agreement that 20 mph is the right speed outside schools, health settings and residential areas. That wasn’t the case four years ago. And let’s be clear what our guidance actually says: on roads that are within 100m of an educational setting, a community centre, a hospital, or close to shops and homes, 20 mph is the right speed. That is a sensible guiding rule. But, of course, for every rule, there is an exception. For example, if a road passes the back of houses and there aren’t people crossing, then I’d expect that to stay at 30 mph. So, we need to apply common sense, and councils are able to make those decisions. As the guidance says, and I quote, it’s worth reading.

‘highway authorities continue to have the flexibility to set local speed limits that are right for individual roads, reflecting local needs and considerations.’

That’s what it says.

‘Where their decision deviates from the guidance highway authorities should have a clear and reasoned case.’

And right across Wales, councils have already used those powers to make exceptions ahead of the roll-out on 17 September. They’ve exercised their ability to keep some roads at 30mph, which is why this is not a blanket policy, because there are roads kept at 30 mph. They have the powers to make those changes, and those powers remain with them to use in the light of experience. They can make changes.

We pointed to those comments and asked if that was being batted to the council, and if the goalposts had moved.

Cllr Jones said, “The guidelines have not changed, what has changed is the nuances from the Deputy Minister, who is now effectively passing it back to councils and saying, ‘Well, yes, you can apply common sense’.

“One of the concerns we had originally, and we still have in a way, is if the legislation or the guidelines are not clear, and we make a change, and there is subsequently – god forbid – a serious or fatal accident where where does the council stand in law if we could appear to have gone against the Welsh Government guidelines.

“What we would want to see is what Lee Waters is saying being translated into the guidelines, so that we can clearly make those decisions without the risk, for instance, of a corporate manslaughter charge or whatever.

“Where the nuances on the part of the Deputy Minister are changing, I would like to see those in guidelines from the Welsh Government.

Looking at specific routes in and around Wrexham that are more main road arterial roads rather than zones where cars and pedestrian mix, we asked if there were specific roads under review.

Cllr Jones declined to provide a list, “What we are not going to do at this stage is indicate which roads we are going to look at. What I have done is ask the officers to look at those types of roads and ask them to draw up a list for review. Any changes we make will have to be made with full consultation, local members, and the public.

Roll backs appear yet more bountiful times for legacy back-of-newspaper notices to inform you the public, something Wrexham’s MP Sarah Atherton discovered was well over £30k so far for the 20MPH roll out.

Cllr Jones said,  “The traffic order would have to be made and we would have to go through the normal consultation process. So at this stage, I don’t want to name roads in particular, but that’s the type of road that we will be looking at.”

Lee Waters MS told the Senedd last week there will be a ‘framework’ to measure the impact of the 20MPH law, and “in January, we will publish the first set of post-implementation speed data” with detailed results due ‘by the summer’ with ‘formal monitoring on an annual basis for the next five years’.

We asked Cllr Jones if there was freedom to do things quicker locally if needed.

Cllr Jones said, “Yes. Some work is already beginning in terms of identifying which roads we’re going to review. But, it would be really helpful if the words that Lee Waters is now using was translated into into the guidelines to give us the protection.”

We pointed to the large Senedd petition, standing at over 450,o00 submissions at the time of writing noting that even if there was a proportion of disputed signatories it is likely the largest expression via that system so far. We also noted some roadsigns being defaced locally in quite unusual direct action – including some in 20MPH zones that predate the new law. With that context, we asked Cllr Jones how he felt the roll out had gone, as it did not feel an overly popular move so far.

Cllr Jones said, “It is not very popular, but it is certainly right in a number of areas, I have no doubt about that. The sort of areas are ones that have been talked about, housing estates, schools, parking, playgrounds, and those sorts of places. It is absolutely right there.

“In Rossett, there are roads where the driveways come right out onto the road and there is no footpath – it is absolutely appropriate there.

“I can understand the anger though. The other problem is that the people’s driving habits are changing, people are coming out the side roads trying to get ahead of people they think are doing 20 mile an hour, so that they don’t get held up by them. On Chester Road the other day a car overtook a car doing 20 miles an hour and came straight at me on the wrong side of the road. Okay, that’s criminal driving, and that needs to be dealt with and enforced by the police.

“It is certainly not a popular decision. Most people are sensible and reasonable and it is the blanket application that they are concerned about and that they object to without consideration of the issues and without giving local authorities the flexibility to use their judgment, which we now appear to be given.

“I absolutely understand where people are coming from. I haven’t signed the petition, but I support the right to do it. The government, be it local government or national government, has to listen to that volume of the public voice.”

We asked if his use of the term ‘blanket’ now and previously was correct, something that has itself caused great debate between those who point to it being correct as it is a new national law in place everywhere with exemptions picked out of it, and others saying it is a misleading term as 30MPH / 40MPH / 50MPH / 60MPH and 70MPH limits still exist.

“It is. I think the Deputy Minister is already beginning to accept by his own words, the application of the guidelines, rules, whatever you call them, of the Welsh Government has led to an implementation in areas where they are not necessarily needed to be implemented.

“So I think, yes, blanket is right, because it was a change to the national speed limit.

“Again, as I pointed out, the liability on people who interpret the guidelines in a different way, they may be laying themselves open to corporate manslaughter charges, potentially, I don’t know. But the one positive is that I think that the Deputy Minister is beginning to listen”.

Other council areas in Wales have differing levels of exemptions, with some appearing more keen than others, and we asked if Wrexham was behind the curve on how that process was handled locally.

Cllr Jones said, “Wrexham is not alone in the way they have implemented it. It was a matter of judgement at the time time, and some councils I have seen as I have driven through them in the last week, have implemented it in a different way to Wrexham.

“That was one of the reasons why I said to the officers we absolutely need to look at this because if for example Gwynedd can implement it in a different way to Wrexham, then we should be looking at it.

“The main thing is we are looking at it, we will look at it, and that work is starting.”

With any changes there are extra costs, so we asked if there was any indication of support from Welsh Government to underwrite costs incurred – with a hopefully but not firm reply from Cllr Jones, “I would like to say they were but I am not able to guarantee – I would like to think they will”.

(Top pic: Thanks to the reader who sent us this image of 30 MPH signs taken down by Wrexham Council)