Village wide 20mph zone agreed after only one objection lodged

A new 20mph zone is set to be introduced in Great Wilbraham, after only one objection was formally lodged against it. Cambridgeshire County Council held a consultation to gather views on reducing the speed limit in the village, but only received one response.

The objector raised concerns about whether there was data to back up the claim that reducing speed limits to 20mph will make individual roads safer. In response the county council said it believed cutting the speed limit would reduce the risk of fatalities and encourage people to walk and cycle more.

The plans for the 20mph zone were brought forward as part of a wider programme to reduce speed limits across the county. The county council said no objections were raised by the emergency services or the police about the proposed 20mph speed limits in Great Wilbraham.

READ MORE: Speed limit cuts and speed cameras planned for Cambs A-road after more than 100 crashes

READ MORE: Cyclist seriously injured in Cambridge crash with driver failing to stop

A statutory consultation was held earlier this year to gather views on the proposed 20mph zone, which only one person responded to, raising an objection. They said: “There is no data showing how many incidents there were on that road due to cars going more than 20mph. Saying that 20mph is safer, it is not enough to take a decision to apply this restriction to random roads without showing the data to back it up for that specific road.”

County council officers said it was “extremely difficult” to find data that would specifically identify someone travelling at over 20mph as being the factor of an accident. They added that incident data was normally only collected when there was an injury. However, officers said the risk of a pedestrian fatality was three-times higher when a vehicle was travelling around 30mph to 40mph.

They said: “This is the predominant reason why 20mph speed limits are gaining popularity, not only in the UK, but in other parts of the world too. Additionally, slower speeds are less intimidating towards those who walk or cycle along the highway network, activities that we need to encourage more of if we are to reduce the number of harmful emissions and traffic levels in the county.”

The decision was ultimately made to introduce the 20mph zone in Great Wilbraham. A decision notice published by the county council said the objection was considered, but that data was not required to reduce speed limits on roads. It also said the village had features such as "significant bends in the road”, narrow paths, as well as a school and nursery, which the county council said would “benefit from slower overall traffic speeds”.