Eight Cambridgeshire villages placed on priority list for new 20mph zones
Eight Cambridgeshire villages have been put on a priority list for new 20mph zones.
Cambridgeshire County Council has set aside £150,000 to fund the proposed schemes, which include plans for village-wide 20mph zones in Waterbeach, Stow-cum Quy and Elm.
For the last three years, the county council has been inviting communities to apply for 20mph schemes to be introduced in their area.
The authority has said it hopes lowering speeds will improve road safety and encourage more people to walk and cycle.
This year the county council said it received 66 applications from across Cambridgeshire to introduce new 20mph speed limits.
Officers at the county council said the programme had proved “popular and oversubscribed”.
They explained that all of the applications have been reviewed and recommended a list of eight projects to be moved forward.
These schemes were:
Waterbeach, village wide, estimated project cost £27,000
Stow-cum-Quy, village wide, estimated project cost £9,000
Elm, village wide, estimated project cost £18,000
Bottisham, village wide, estimated project cost £18,000
Little Paxton, village wide, estimated project cost £27,000
Earith, majority of village, estimated project cost £15,000
Swavesey, majority of village, estimated project cost £18,000
Steeple Morden, central area of village, estimated project cost £18,000
While these schemes have been prioritised, further work on the proposals and public consultations need to take place before any work can take place.
Cllr Alex Beckett, chair of the highways and transport committee, told a meeting this week (October 1) that it was “great to see so many come forward” to apply for 20mph schemes.
Cllr Claire Daunton said she thought it was “interesting to see how popular” the programme was and how many village wide applications had been made.
Cllr Lorna Dupré said the long list of applications showed the “enthusiasm” for 20mph zones.
Cllr Simon King highlighted that the estimated cost for a number of the prioritised projects was listed as £18,000.
He said this figure seemed to have been arrived at “regardless” of whether the project was for a small area, or village wide, and asked officers if they could explain why.
Cllr King also suggested that if the county council looked to implement smaller schemes than village wide ones, then more applications could be funded.
He said: “It is understandable why some push ahead with a village wide scheme, but if we are less ambitious we can actually fund more small schemes.
“I do not think anyone would agree that everywhere in a village or town has the same need, I would say outside schools is a much more valuable place than just anywhere we choose.”
Officers said the estimated costs put forward for the projects at this stage were based on the average costs of installing 20mph schemes, based on the authority’s previous experience.
They said the exact costs were not known at this stage.
Cllr Beckett questioned Cllr King on his comments about prioritising smaller schemes, particularly outside schools.
He said he did not understand the focus from some on only improving road safety outside of schools, rather than improving the safety of a child’s whole journey to school.
Cllr Beckett said when he spoke to parents they told him they wanted to make sure the whole journey to school was safe for their children.
Cllr King said prioritising 20mph zones outside of schools was what his constituents had told him they wanted to see.
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