Shropshire stays out of the 20mph club
Speed limits of 20mph are being imposed on thousands of roads across Britain – but Shropshire is largely bucking the national trend to slow drivers down, it has been revealed.
New figures reveal more than 20,000 roads have had speed limits reduced to 20mph in the past two years with little warning.
Councils have plans to transform thousands more roads to the lower speed, with some local authorities intent on converting virtually all of their roads. But it is a different story in Shropshire.
In Telford & Wrekin, just one road has been reduced to 20mph in the past two years – the B4373 Ironbridge Road outside Abraham Darby Academy – and is advisory only.
A handful of others are planned for conversion in the next five years. They are Coach Central, in the town centre, at The Dale, in Church Aston, and The Spinney, outside the primary school in Preston upon the Weald Moors village, and on Madeley High Street.
But even with those, only just over four per cent of the borough's complete road network would have 20mph speed restrictions.
A spokesman for Telford & Wrekin Council said: "The council's speed management policy will consider applications for 20mph speed limits on a case by case basis and if they are supported by a number of suitable criteria."
In the Shropshire Council area, there have been two 20mph schemes in the past two years – in Sandy Lane and Crowmere Road, both in Shrewsbury,
An additional mile of road has been identified for conversion before 2020, although the council did not reveal where that would be.
Even with that, the percentage of the road network with a 20mph speed limit would be just 0.62 per cent.
Tim Sneddon, Shropshire Council's environmental maintenance service manager, said: "We have a relatively high percentage of rural roads and lanes in Shropshire where national speed limits apply.
"However, we have a higher than normal number of small schools, where 20 mph zones are often found. Our policy is robust with respect to 20mph restrictions we will only apply 20mph limits where there are road safety requirements for them."
In Wigan, 5,312 roads have been converted under the council's policy of imposing a 20mph speed limit on all the town's streets.
