Danny Dorling is quite right (Telegraph 9.12.10). Reducing the speeds on Sheffield’s residential roads to 20mph could drastically reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads, which are now the nation’s major killer. Unfortunately the Council and the Community Assemblies have not caught the vision of how this simple and cheap measure could reduce the death toll by 40% and substantially reduce the demand on the health service, saving the taxpayer money and saving many families the awful grief of losing a loved one. It also reduces emissions and noise. The Green Party originally put a motion to full council suggesting that all residential roads in Sheffield should have a 20mph speed limit, as has happened in Portsmouth. The Lib Dem Council declared that this decision should be made at Community Assemblies, thus denying a debate about whether to make all of Sheffield’s residential streets a 20′s plenty zone. Now Community Assemblies are saying that they can’t declare the whole area a 20mph zone so are taking small estates like Strabroke and Winn Gardens, one estate at a time. At this rate we will be celebrating the next century before our residential streets have a safe speed limit. Please attend your next Community Assembly meeting and demand that your area should be a 20′s Plenty zone.

Yours sincerely

Graham Wroe

Sheffield Green Party

Danny Dorling article in the Telegraph

Green Councillors Rob Murphy and Jillian Creasy

Sheffield Green Party has welcomed the decision of the Central Community Assembly (on 23^rd September) to investigate introducing a 20mph speed limit in Wynn Gardens and Hanover Estate. The Greens support the “Twenty’s Plenty” campaign to bring in the speed limit to all residential areas of Sheffield and they put a successful motion to Full Council back in November 2009 (1). Currently around 300 pedestrians are injured or killed on Sheffield’s roads each year which could be reduced with lower speed limits.

Cllr Jillian Creasy said, “We welcome these small schemes in the Central Community Assembly area as a first step towards a city-wide 20mph limit on residential roads. The Greens called for a city-wide

Twenty’s Plenty scheme in a motion to Council in November 2009. The Lib Dems amalgamated funding for Child Safety Zones into the Community Assembly transport budgets, thereby passing responsibility for 20mph zones and speed limits to the Assemblies (2). We hope that Central Community Assembly will lead the way by opting into the scheme.

“However, these schemes work best if they are city-wide, like in Portsmouth, where they have already reduced speeds on roads in just the first year of operation. Citizens get used to driving slower in residential areas, and there is no need for speed bumps or narrower zones.

“The scheme is supported by the RAC and AA, and nearly three-quarters of drivers asked in a national survey. Where the scheme has been in place, petrol consumption has dropped, with just a minute added to a 15 minute journey, and in some places accident rates have been cut by up to two thirds.

“In addition, a recent report by the Better Transport Campaign shows that Sheffield is one of the most car-dependent cities in England, making walking and cycling more difficult. Signing up to a Twenty’s Plenty would help bring Sheffield up the league.”

ENDS

Notes:

1.    Green Party Motion to Full Council November 2009

That this Council:

(a) notes the “Twenty’s Plenty for Sheffield” campaign that proposes a city-wide 20mph speed limit in residential urban areas, such as has been introduced in Hull and Portsmouth;

(b) recognises the importance of reduced speed in reducing the risk for pedestrians and other road users, with around 300 pedestrians injured on Sheffield’s roads every year;

(c) notes research from UK and abroad that has shown city-wide urban speed limits around 20mph have:

(i) significantly reduced speeds in just the first year of operation;

(ii) after several years in operation, reduced urban accident rates by up to two-thirds, with numbers killed and seriously injured reduced by even more;

(iii) encouraged walking and cycling, especially for the elderly and younger children;

(iv) benefited communities, with residents a quarter more likely to stop and talk on footpaths;

(v) increased the journey time of a 15 minute journey by just 1 minute;

(vi) reduced vehicle emissions by 12% due to less acceleration and deceleration; and

(vii) been supported by 72% of drivers surveyed as part of the British Social Attitudes Survey;

(d) welcomes the Government consultation “A Safer Way: Consultation on Making Britain’s Roads the Safest in the World” that will inform road safety strategy beyond 2010 and hopes that it will propose 20mph speed limits in urban residential areas countrywide;

(e) believes that the expense of intensive traffic calming measures required in 20mph zones is delaying the implementation of 20mph speed limits that are a priority in over 100 sites across the City;

(f) believes that the implementation of a city-wide limit of 20mph on residential roads, combined with a public information campaign and innovative inexpensive traffic calming, would have an immediate beneficial impact on accidents and fatalities in the City; and

(g) therefore directs officers to report to the Cabinet on the feasibility of implementing a city-wide 20mph limit on all residential roads, excluding major routes as appropriate.

2. Report to Cabinet Highways Committee 8^th July 2010, note re ending of ring fenced budget for Child Safety Zones at 6.4

3.  www.bettertransport.org.uk/campaigns/traffic_reduction/scorecard

Cllr Jillian Creasy, Central ward, Green Party

Cllr Jillian Creasy said,”Green Councillors put a motion to Sheffield
Council in November, calling for a city-wide 20mph speed limit on all
residential roads other than main routes. We also helped residents take
petitions to our Community Assembly. We welcome any progress, but we think
the proposals going to the Highways Committee for approval on Thursday fall
well short of what is needed. The point about 20′s Plenty schemes is that
they cover all residential roads over a wide area. This has been the secret
of success in Portsmouth and London. It sends a consistent message about the
proper speed on residential roads, which will soon feel as normal as the
default 30mph limit on any urban road. Their success relies on clear signage
and changed behaviour rather than physical humps or blocks; so they need to
be widespread and well advertised. A piecemeal approach in each Community
Assembly area won’t have the same impact at all.

Cllr Creasy continued, “We are also concerned that the scheme won’t be
funded beyond the preliminary planning stages. The Council is still aiming
to go ahead with work to repair roads across the city. 40% of road signs are
to be replaced and all the roads resurfaced. Surely this would be an ideal
opportunity to install the necessary signs? There is no mention of this in
the report to the Highways Committee which shows a lack of joined up
thinking.”

For more information about the Sheffield Campaign visit

http://www.20splentyforsheffield.org.uk/

Rob said, “We are pleased this important issue is to be considered by the
Highways Committee. Progress seems painfully slow. Meanwhile over 200
people are killed or seriously injured on our roads each year. A 20mph speed
limit on residential roads (excluding major routes) would save lives yet have
little effect on journey times. And if it was done city wide, there would be no
need for humps and bumps and all the signs required for a local child safety
scheme.”

The Green Party is continuing to push for the Council to introduce a 20 mile an hour speed limit in residential areas of the city. Green activist Rob Unwin will be taking a petition from residents of Central and Broomhill wards to Central Community Assembly on Thur 14th. The Greens hope that if residents across the city push for 20mph limits, the whole city will eventually get a joined-up scheme.

Rob Unwin said, “The 20mph speed limit would only apply to residential roads, not main routes.  These schemes work best where they are in force throughout a WHOLE city or borough, for example in Portsmouth.  Research from the UK and elsewhere has shown that city-wide limits of 20mph have significantly reduced  speeds in just the first year of operation, and after several years have reduced urban accident rates by up to two-thirds.

The new speed limits have encouraged walking and cycling, especially for the
elderly and younger children, but have only increased the journey time of a 15 minute car journey by 1 minute. They have also reduced vehicle emissions by 12% due to less acceleration and deceleration.  And 72% of drivers surveyed as part of the British Social Attitudes Survey support the move.”

He added, “We hope that the Central Community Assembly will apply the scheme to this area of Sheffield. However, a city-wide 20mph limit would set a code of behaviour across the whole city so that it becomes normal to drive at 20mph in residential areas. Everyone would know the rule and there would be no need to spend a lot of money on signs, or on humps and bumps, which are unpopular with drivers anyway.”

ENDS