North Yorkshire County Council
Transport, Economy and Environment Overview & Scrutiny Committee
19 January 2023
Report of the Corporate Director – Business and Environmental Services
20mph Speed Limit and Zone Policy Update
1.0 Purpose of Report
1.1 To update the Committee of the application of the revised 20mph Speed Limit and Zone Policy since its adoption in January 2022.
2.0 Background
2.1 A review of the County Council’s 20mph policy was instigated by the publication of the Department for Transport (DfT)/Atkins national research project report on the effectiveness of 20mph speed limits and zones. A Transport, Economy and Environment Overview and Scrutiny (TEEO S&C) Task Group of Elected Members was set up with input and representation received from North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) Traffic Engineering, Road Safety and Public Health Teams, North Yorkshire Police and the 20s Plenty campaign organisation.
2.2 The aims of the review were:
· To consider the findings of the 20mph Research Study: National Research Project (the ‘Atkins report’)
· To examine the DfT’s guidance on 20mph speed limits (Setting Local Speed Limits: DfT Circular 01/2013) and relevant legislation
· To examine the County Council’s current policy on the introduction of 20mph speed limits and how it was applied
· To consider whether there was a need to change the County Council’s current policy on the introduction of 20mph speed limits
· To consider other measures for adoption
· To take evidence from NYCC Highways Officers, NYCC Road Safety, 95 Alive Partnership, North Yorkshire Police and the 20s Plenty Campaign.
2.3 The outcome of that review resulted in 9 recommendations and the requirement to revise the existing policy. An update for each recommendation is provided in section 4.0 of this report.
2.4 A key outcome of the review was that default application of 20mph speed limits is not supported by the County Council or by North Yorkshire Police in its capacity of enforcement responsibility.
2.5 The revised policy was adopted by the County Council in January 2022 and has been used to assess all new applications and review some previous requests since then. Work related to the other recommendations continues.
3.0 Policy Change
3.1 The revised policy sets out a notable strategic change to the assessment process. Whilst vehicle speed and collision data sets remain essential, the broadened scope to include the evaluation of the sense of place and community and how a 20mph speed limit may positively impact both, is a key change to support implementation.
3.2 For example, there may be a road where there is local amenity such as a row of shops, a community hall, play park, school or a combination of those. Collision data may show there none or few collisions, particularly speed related collision and vehicle speed data indicates mean speeds are at or around 30mph.
3.3 Under the terms of the previous policy, it could be reasonably argued there is insufficient evidence to merit investment to reduce the speed limit and install the necessary traffic calming features to forcibly reduce vehicle speeds where required.
3.4 However, by including the evaluation of place and community as part of the assessment process and considering how a lower speed limit may improve the general perception of the highway environment it can help create a better and more accessible environment and community. Of course, that evaluation is relatively subjective and not always easily captured, but its inclusion is a positive step to look at ways vehicle speed management can positively influence communities and encourage modal shift in travel habits away from the private car to walking and cycling etc.
3.5 One of the report recommendations was to review speed limits outside schools. Whilst it remains the case that the vast majority of collisions involving children occur away from the school, there are a number of schools that are located within speed limits of 40mph and above. Though there is no intention to reduce those speed limits to 20mph, or indeed apply a blanket 20mph speed limit at or around all schools, it is important that those higher speed limits are reviewed. This work is on-going.
3.6 Officers are aware of the on-going campaign by 20’s Plenty, encouraging Parish Councils to sign up to its vision of default 20mph speed limits. The County Council is actively working to better promote the use of 20mph speed limits and zones, and recently the Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Constituency Committee supported a motion to trial an area wide 20mph speed limit.
3.7 There are several more recent studies, that indicate performance of 20mph speed limits installed without traffic calming are achieving results greater than the specified speed reduction set out in the current DfT Circular 2013/01 Setting Local Speed Limits, which is the guidance for all Local Highway Authorities in applying and managing speed limits on its network, and in the 2018 Atkins report. However, those reports must be given the appropriate level of scrutiny and there are other reports and examples where 20mph have not achieved the desired effect.
3.9 Such scrutiny is not to create barriers to implementation, quite the opposite. Detailed study of both positive and negative examples informs the decision making process and will ensure the considerable level of financial investment required, is not misapplied, or creates an enforcement problem and the cause of public dissatisfaction and complaint.
4.0 Recommendations Updates
4.1 Recommendation 1
The policy should be more explicit in considering 20mph speed limits around schools and consideration given to extending the distance traditionally considered around schools in order to encourage greater use of active modes of transport.
4.2 The revised policy was adopted in January 2022 (Appendix 1) and sets out the philosophy for practical application which remains largely based on the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Circular 01/2013 Setting Local Speed Limits that is the national guidance document for highway authorities.
4.3 The TEE O&S Committee concluded that it was not appropriate to have a standard or default application eg outside every school, community amenity or residential area. Each application will be assessed on its own merit. However, it has been possible to include, the need for greater consideration of the sense of place and community and how greater application can be applied in conjunction with the wider policy remit around modal shift to sustainable travel options and healthier lifestyles.
4.4 Recommendation 2
With reference to KSI figures, work is undertaken by the County Council’s highways department to ascertain the percentage of 30mph speed limits against the percentage of 50mph or 60mph speed limits in the county.
4.5 The Traffic Engineering and Road Safety team undertakes annual and in year collision data analysis to identify high-risk sites and routes and detect trends such as road user, causation, manoeuvre etc. This work identifies if there is a collision problem where speed is the main causation factor within 30mph or other speed limit that can be compared as a percentage. Research during the review identified that speed was not a leading causation of collisions, however for the purposes of further monitoring and reporting, it has been arranged for the Road Casualties - North Yorkshire annual report does now include a section on the number of collisions by speed limit, showing the respective percentages.
4.6 Recommendation 3
The County Council’s highways department draws up a list of high risk collision areas using three years’ worth of data to examine whether an area would benefit from a 20mph speed limit, taking into account the function of the road and the road environment.
4.7 The County Council’s Traffic Engineering Team maintains a list of high-risk sites and routes in both urban and rural settings. This forms the basis for the annual Accident Investigation and Prevention (AIP) programme of capital works ie road safety engineering schemes to reduce the number and severity of collisions on the local road network.
4.8 This work will continue, and should any subsequent investigations reveal that there are locations with a history of speed related collisions that would benefit from a reduced limit, including 20mph speed limits, then such measures would be taken forward.
4.9 Recommendation 4
An examination be undertaken of the consistency of how the 20mph Speed Limit Policy is applied by each Area Highways Offices.
4.10 Since the revised policy has been in place, the Area Highways Teams have continued to assess application under the terms of the new policy, with strategic support and guidance from Traffic Engineering Team, which led on the policy development. A workshop with the Area Highways Teams and other Highways and Transportation Teams was held to allow officers the opportunity to discuss the policy and ask any questions on its application to ensure there was a consistent understanding and applications.
4.11 Recommendation 5
A list of schools be drawn up that have a 20mph speed limit in the county.
4.12 A list of schools has been drawn up and will be retained on file and updated accordingly to provide a context of number and distribution throughout the county. This information has also been made available on the County Council website.
4.12.1 In addition to this, work has been carried out to identify the speed limits outside all schools in the county, with work being actively carried out to review the highest speed limits and potential for reduction.
4.13 Recommendation 6
Communications should be improved in relation to North Yorkshire County Council’s Policy for 20mph Speed Limits by:
· The document appearing as a stand-alone document on North Yorkshire County Council’s Speed limits, speeding and road safety concerns webpage so that it is easier to search for and be known to members of the public;
· Reference to the policy inserted in the ‘Safer Roads, Healthier Places, York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Strategy’ and vice versa;
· All references to DfT Circular 01/2006 be removed and replaced with references to DfT Circular 01/2013;
· Making it clear that the policy does not relate to 20mph zones.
4.14 The new policy has been added to the county council website as a stand-alone document that is easily accessible. The policy is also referenced in the York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Strategy.
4.15 The new draft policy has replaced or updated all references to DfT and other supporting documents.
4.16 With regard to the final point of the recommendation, ie the policy to apply to speed limits only, not zones; it was agreed at the July 2021 TEE O&S mid cycle briefing meeting that the policy should also apply to 20mph zones.
4.17 Recommendation 7
The 95 Alive Partnership actively promotes North Yorkshire Police’s ‘Operation Spartan’ initiative, in order to raise awareness that dash cam footage can be used to capture dangerous driving and potentially lead to a conviction.
4.18 The partnership now called York & North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership, continues to promote Operation Spartan as business as usual via its website, social media and in face to face events and training. The revised policy has also been formally raised within the partnership allowing regular engagement with North Yorkshire Police on the application of 20mph speed limits and zones and gauging views on enforcement and wider use to support the reduction in the number and severity of collisions and realise wider policy objectives around active travel, air and noise pollution and public health. The policy will continue to be discussed within the partnership as and when required.
4.19 Recommendation 8
When considering planning applications for new housing or commercial development, North Yorkshire County Council, in its capacity as the lead Highways Authority and as statutory consultee to the planning process, needs to continue to ensure it makes recommendations to local planning authorities based on written national policy indicating the appropriate best practice and guidelines for the implementation of measures. This is in order to design out speed as part of the condition of approval and to put in place infrastructure to create safe walking and cycling routes.
4.20 As informed during the task group review, this is established standard practice and will continue to be the case. The County Council’s Development Management Team apply the principles of Manual for Streets 1 and 2, along with other approved NYCC minimum standards in their assessment of applications and continue to consider ways of ensuring that appropriate designs are delivered through the planning process.
4.21 The principles of the Manual for Streets documents are to encourage and improve the design and use of streets with a focus on road user hierarchy that includes detailed consideration on setting the appropriate speed limit to support different uses. All new roads proposed as part of a development, must be of a design that physically promotes lower vehicle speeds and creates an environment supportive of pedestrian and cycling movements.
4.22 Recommendation 9
More broadly, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, for North Yorkshire County Council in partnership with a range of stakeholder interests to consider how our highways network can be used in the future to create a greener economy, taking into account the full range of road users and its use for leisure and work purposes
4.23 The revised policy acknowledges its links to benefits, which can be brought about through other policy and strategy commitments and provide a mechanism to allow the county council to support and deliver the implementation of new 20mph speed limits.
5.0 Renewed Focus
5.1 Since its revision, the policy has drawn renewed focus and visibility with a notable amount of public attention. The 20’s Plenty Campaign group continues its engagement with Parish Councils seeking to gain their support for the 20mph speed limit to replace all 30mph speed limits and requesting the County Council to change its approach, citing other authorities in the country which have taken the decision to introduce or trial and the positive impacts.
5.2 To date, the 20s Plenty group indicate 128 North Yorkshire Parish and Town Councils have pledged their support for default application. This represents 17.5% of all Parishes/Town councils in the county, though this figure is not reflected in the number of individual applications received.
5.3 As mentioned in Section 3, a motion proposing an area wide trial was presented to the Harrogate & Knaresborough Area Constituency Committee in November 2022 by Cllr Arnold Warneken.
5.4 Following discussion, the Area Constituency Committee resolved:
That the Executive be advised that the Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Constituency Committee wishes a 20mph speed limit to be piloted throughout towns and villages in the constituency area where a need has been identified, and that the Executive be asked to recommend the Transport, Economy and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee, when it considers the County Council’s 20mph Speed Limit and Zone Policy on 19 January 2023, to consider appropriate amendments to the existing policy to enable such a pilot to be introduced.
5.5 The outcomes of that investigation work will be presented in a forthcoming report via Cllr Keane Duncan, Executive Member for Highways & Transportation.
5.6 As part of that work resulting from the approved motion, there has been direct engagement with 20’s Plenty as the leading campaign group and given its involvement in the Task Group review that resulted in the revised policy.
5.7 Since that time, the County Council has been in receipt of fairly regular correspondence and updates from 20s Plenty, so it has been requested from them any information on the very latest developments and research nationally, which can be included in the scope of the investigation, as well as Cllr Duncan’s consideration of the request from the Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Constituency Committee for a 20mph pilot in the ACC area.
5.8 There are of course a number of other considerations to take into account in the development of any trial scenario such as links to other Highways and Transportation policies and projects such as the strategic objectives of the LTP, the new Cycle Infrastructure Design guidance LTN 01/20, Harrogate Transport Improvement Plan and the Transforming Cities Fund project.
5.9 In May 2022, the government passed legislation to decriminalise Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act, allowing local authorities that are already designated Civil Parking Enforcement areas, to apply for powers to carry out the enforcement of moving traffic offences.
5.10 North Yorkshire County Council responded to the Department for Transports consultation submitting an expression of interest of applying for those powers in the forthcoming tranches, in combination with City of York Council.
5.11 At this stage, it is anticipated that the County Council will target Tranche 3 in late 2023. It is important to know however that, whilst the council may receive powers to enforce moving traffic offences, it will only be able to do so initially on selected offences, such as bus lanes with speed enforcement remaining the responsibility of North Yorkshire Police.
6.0 Policy Application
6.1 Since the new policy was adopted by the County Council, all new applications have been assessed against the revised criteria resulting in positive decisions and work continues to review some previous applications to determine if there is now merit.
6.2 To date, including ten previous applications being reconsidered, there have been 27 applications received. Three applications have been approved, these are for extensions of existing 20mph speed limits in Bradley and Cononley, both in the Area 5 Craven and the other being a new implementation on Staxton in Area 4, Ryedale.
6.3 Two have been declined in part, these are, Bellerby in Area 1 Richmondshire, with alternative roads being considered and Monk Fryston in Area 7 Selby where alternative measures are proposed to better address the main concern.
6.4 Two applications, Welburn and Langton, both in Area 4 Ryedale have been declined because of site unsuitability. The remining applications continue to be in the review process, some of which are linked to other wider transport and active travel projects.
6.5 In addition to the above, five items of correspondence have been received setting out the Parish or Town Councils support for the 20s Plenty campaign for 20mph speed limits to replace the current 30mph speed limit.
7.0 Funding
7.1 A budget of £75k has been allocated to fund the capital investment of new or amendment of existing 20mph speed limits and Zones. All approved applications will need to be prioritised via a scoring matrix similar to that used to allocate accessibility funding. This is in the process of being finalised for the forthcoming financial year. Also, to support the assessment process, an additional £15k has been allocated from the Site Investigation Budget in the Highways Capital Programme to fund speed surveys. Combined this equates to an investment of up to £90k per annum.
8.0 Conclusion
8.1 To date the policy is having a positive impact by providing potential applicants with a clear rationale of where and when 20mph speed limits are suitable and sets out how any applications with be assesses. This is equally beneficial to the County Council’s Area Highway Teams, providing a much clearer framework in which to review and inform their decision and provide that information to the applicant.
8.2 The broadening of the policy scope to include qualitative data ie capturing the sense of place and community increases the opportunity for 20mph speed limits and zones to be approved. Also, it’s revision better aligns it to support other National Policy, such as Local Transport Note 01/20 Cycle Infrastructure Design and other local policy for the promotion of and delivery of infrastructure to support the strategic shift to support Active Modes of Travel.
8.3 Furthermore, in result of the DfT/Atkins National Research Study, there has been no change to the national guidance document, DfT Circular 01/2013 Setting Local Speed Limits, which remains as the guidance issued to Local Highway Authorities. Therefore, that the current policy ensures that NYCC applies speed limits in accordance with the national guidance.
8.4 All applications received will continue to be assessed by the local area Highways Teams with strategic support from the Traffic Engineering Team.
9.0 Financial Implications
9.1 As set out in Section 7, the financial Implications of the revised 20mph policy is the £75k capital allocation for scheme delivery from the LTP settlement and the £15k capital allocation from the Site Investigation Budget, a total investment of £90k.
9.2 Any additional investment for scheme delivery will be subject to a separate funding application and decision.
10.0 Legal Implications
10.1 There are no legal implications resulting from this update report and the continuation of the revised policy, which was subject to legal review as part of the approval process.
11.0 Equalities Implications
11.1 There are no equalities implications resulting from this update report and the continuation of the revised policy, which was subject to review as part of the approval process.
12.0 Climate Change Implications
12.1 There are no climate change implications resulting from this update report and the continued application of the revised policy, which was subject to review as part of the approval process.
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13.0 Recommendations
13.1 That the Committee notes: i. the impact that the 20mph Speed Limit and Zone Policy 2022 has had since its adoption; ii. progress made on delivering the recommendations of the TEE O&S Review; iii. the continuation of existing national guidance to Local Highway Authorities on speed limit setting and the alignment with the existing NYCC policy on 20mph speed limits.
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KARL BATTERSBY
Corporate Director - Business and Environmental Services
