Better Transport

Your local authority has the power to give a road a 20pmh designation. Residential, shopping streets and even rural roads can have 20mph designations.

20mph speed limits can be implemented in two ways:

• Without traffic calming. 20mph road signs are placed at the entrance to the road where the speed restriction applies, with further signs at regular intervals
• With traffic calming. These schemes are known as 20mph zones and usually need to cover several streets to have a significant impact on speed. 20mph signs are placed at the entrance to the speed-restricted area and traffic-calming measures are installed every 50 metres to enforce the speed restriction. A zone option is more expensive but it can be an attractive option for your local authority because the speed restriction is self-enforcing

Some specific traffic-calming measures

Local authorities usually include proposals for 20mph zones and streets into one of several local plans:

• Community strategies, which set out long-term plans for an area.

Community strategies were introduced in England and Wales through the Local Government Act 2000. A community strategy sets out a community’s aspirations and outlines actions to meet its social, economic and environmental well being. Local authorities work with others in a cross-agency ‘local strategic partnership’ – a ‘community strategy partnership’ in Wales – to prepare and implement the strategy. The strategy goes through public consultation. These strategies are funded through three-year local area agreements.

• Local development frameworks, which set out local transport policy

• Local transport plans, which are five-year plans (2006-2011), setting out transport policies and programmes.

The plans are prepared by the local highways authority – the county council or unitary authority. They contain strategies for specific areas, which are developed with the help of district councils and should complement polices in the local development frameworks. These plans are given Government funding. The local highways authority puts out an annual progress report on the local transport plan by 31 August. The Government uses this report to decide whether funding for the next year needs to be altered.

You can find the local transport plan on the website of your unitary authority or county council.

> Council websites, on the DirectGov website