Return to Items for DecisionDelegated Decisions by Cabinet Member for TransportStatement of Decision
Oxford: Proposed 20mph Speed Limits
Present:
Also in attendance:
Documentation considered:
A copy is attached to the signed copy of this decision.
Summary of representations in person
Councillor Pressel supported the proposals as far as they went and advised that there now seemed to be willingness for Thames Valley Police to enforce the limits. She urged that the proposals be extended to include radial roads in order to extend opportunities to increase road safety even further; encourage more cycling and walking on those routes; consistency for users and less clutter and cost. She did not accept that extending these measures to the radial routes would significantly affect journey times.
Corinne Grimley-Evans supported the introduction of 20 mph limits on residential roads, endorsed support for their extension to include main radial access routes and called for rigorous monitoring. Every endeavour should be made to reduce clutter on the roads.
Councillor Fooks supported the proposals but felt it unrealistic to include main roads even though they were used by cyclists and pedestrians and suggested that improvements should be made to improve safety. She stressed the importance of supporting physical measures and quoted Godstow road and Five Mile drive as good examples of where this was necessary. She welcomed the possibility of enforcement by Thames Valley police and asked what status would be given to unadopted roads.
Councillor Armitage welcomed the proposals and raised specifically the issue of enforcement but did not share the optimism regarding police enforcement. Signing was also very important and he supported the use of roundels to reduce clutter.
Councillor Smith welcomed the proposals and the possibility of police enforcement but concern regarding the transferred cost of policing bills. Similarly she did not consider £75,000 would be sufficient to meet engineering measures and highlighted concerns regarding speed issues in local roads in her division such as London Road and Windmill Road. Similar proposals had worked well elsewhere in the country and she looked forward to seeing similar results in Oxfordshire.
Mr Barrell advised that greater engineering measures would be required to achieve compliance on major roads and it had been a question of balance to achieve a change of attitudes to speed and the benefits of such a reduction at little cost. The £75,000 available was therefore for “soft” measures. The proposals represented good value for money. With regard to use of roundels these could only accompany existing signs and not as a replacement. Monitoring would be undertaken regularly and benefits of bringing down average speeds would be immense.
Cabinet Member’s Comments
The Cabinet Member for Transport thanked the speakers for their comments and officers for their work in bringing this forward. It was a radical move and he welcomed indications that the police now supported the proposals. There had been the need for a balance between which roads were included and he felt that balance was right. There would be regular monitoring and reviews in order to make adjustments where necessary. He hoped that the perception of drivers would be that Oxford was a 20 mph zone which would have a knock on effect to other roads.
Decision
Having regard to the arguments and options set out in the documentation before me, the representations made to me and the further considerations set out above, I confirm my decisions on this matter as follows:
to authorise implementation of the proposals as advertised at formal consultation.
Signed ...................................................................... Cabinet Member for Transport
Date ………………………………….
|
||||||||||||