Council scraps 20mph speed limit plans for Derbyshire town centres after they failed to attract support

Derbyshire council's highways chief has confirmed that plans for 20mph speed limit zones in two of the county's towns have been dropped after they failed to attract widespread public support.

Conservative-controlled Derbyshire [1] County Council's cabinet agreed with the recommendations of a Green Towns initiative report to refuse the proposed plans at a meeting on Thursday, December 7, after a public consultation had attracted only mixed and negative responses. Derbyshire County Council's Cabinet Member for Highways Assets and Transport, Cllr Charlotte Cupit, said: "After a debate at our cabinet meeting, and listening to what the local communities have told us, it was decided not to go ahead with these blanket 20mph speed limits. "We took on board the views of the public and Derbyshire Police.

The results for Long Eaton were very clear, with many more people not wanting the 20mph speed limits.

Derbyshire County Council County Hall

"In Buxton [2], opinion was very much split down the middle for those who responded to our survey, but many more people disagreed who responded to the consultation run by Robert Largan MP." The council received 205 responses from the consultation for Buxton, with 104 in favour and 100 against with one response recorded as 'blank'. High Peak Conservative MP Robert Largan's personal consultation on the Buxton scheme attracted 409 responses with 201 disagreeing with the proposals, 70 agreeing with them, and 138 suggesting that a 20mph zone should only apply in residential areas and around schools and not on main roads.

In Long Eaton, the council's public consultation attracted a total of 306 responses with 63 in favour and 184 against, along with 59 'blank responses', according to the council. The council also considered police comments that the speed limit proposals would be difficult to enforce particularly without traffic-calming measures, and that High Peak Buses had objected to the Buxton scheme with concerns that it would have negative consequences for its services. Cllr Cupit told the cabinet meeting there had been a lot of interest about the proposals but she was not convinced it was the right plan for Derbyshire especially given that the schemes for the implementation of blanket 20mph speed limits had not attracted widespread support.

County Council Deputy Leader Simon Spencer also told the meeting: "I have never believed, quite frankly, that there was a majority support for any of these measures in any town in the county." Cllr Spencer also questioned the representations of the campaign group 20's Plenty who have previously argued that 2,966 injuries occurred in road collisions within 30mph zones in Derbyshire between 2019 and 2020 and that pedestrians are at considerably greater risk of death if impact speeds are above 20mph. He added that the lack of support for the plans came as no surprise and that the council had stated that it would only bring in 20mph speed limit initiatives if they had public support.

Cabinet member for Clean Growth and Regeneration, County Cllr Tony King, said he had had his 'ear bent' on the proposed implementation of a 20mph speed limit and that 'the people of Long Eaton did not want it'. If the plans had been approved they would have affected areas surrounding the town centres of Buxton and Long Eaton including Buxton North and East, Buxton West, Long Eaton, Petersham, and Sawley. Council Leader Barry Lewis also said it was clear local people did not support the proposals but the council will continue to support communities and residents with what they feel their towns and areas need.

Cllr Cupit said: "I'd like to thank all those who took the time to get involved with this and let us have their views on our online survey.

"We very much needed large numbers of people who live and work in either town to be supportive to this idea, and it was clear that this was not the case.

"In the future we will consider speed limit changes in our towns or villages in line with our policies and data, but we won't be moving forward with any plans to change the speed limits in Buxton or Long Eaton."

References

^ Derbyshire (www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk)
^ Buxton (www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk)