Welsh Government to Drop 20mph Blanket Speed Limit

A vandalised 20 mph sign on Sloper Road in Cardiff, Wales, on Sept. 23, 2023. (Matthew Horwood/Getty Images)

The Welsh government is set to drop its blanket 20mph speed limits a year after they were introduced.

Last September, the Labour-run Welsh government imposed a 20mph speed limit on all restricted roads, becoming the first nation to do so.

On Wednesday, new guidance was issued, meaning that from September, highway authorities can assess whether it is safe and appropriate to raise the speed limit to 30mph.

However, it will still prioritise 20mph limits where pedestrians and cyclists frequently mix with vehicles unless strong evidence supports that higher speeds are safe.

The government said that local authorities can bid for a share of an additional £5 million available this financial year to make speed limit changes.

Just 2.5 percent of Welsh roads had a speed limit of 20mph, but in September, this limit was increased to 35 percent, or 7,700 miles of road. The government has an “Enforcement Strategy” agreed upon with the police and the Wales speed camera agency, GoSafe to police driver’s speeds.

The radical change in speed limits drew criticism from the public as well as senior Labour MPs. Last year, Sir Chris Bryant told the BBC’s “Question Time” that the policy was “really difficult” and “frankly bonkers” in some areas.

Urgent Change

The Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Transport told The Epoch Times that the scheme was rescinded after a record-breaking petition was delivered to the Senedd in May.

Natasha Asghar, Welsh Conservative shadow minister for Transport, told The Epoch Times by email that while she appreciated “that Labour and the Cabinet secretary appear to be listening to the public on 20mph, it is unclear who will be seeing these changes and how quickly they will be implemented.”

She said that it “is evident there is a huge desire for an urgent change in direction when it comes to this policy, with just under 500,000 people signing a record-breaking petition–the largest in the Welsh Parliament’s history–to rescind the 20mph scheme.”

“Councils, already extremely over-stretched due to Labour’s budget cuts, will be left to sort out the mess the Labour Government has made of this madcap 20mph policy, which has cost £33 million to implement and is poised to deliver a £9 billion blow to our economy,” she added.

“Now £5 million is being made available to local authorities, who will have to bid for funding, and there does not seem to be a serious timeline in place, which just adds to public frustration.”

In a statement accompanying the update, Cabinet secretary for north Wales and transport, Ken Skates, said that “the recent collisions data for Wales and the reduction in casualties was encouraging. We have still got a way to go but it shows things are moving in the right direction.”

“By working together and supporting highway authorities to make changes where it is right to do so, I believe we can continue to make 20mph a real success story for Wales.”