Agenda item

Members of the public may ask questions or make statements at this meeting if they have given notice and provided the text to Melanie Carr of Democratic Services (contact details below) no later than midday on 7 January 2022. Each speaker should limit themselves to 3 minutes on any item.  Members of the public who have given notice will be invited to speak:

·           at this point in the meeting if their questions/statements relate to matters which are not otherwise on the Agenda (subject to an overall time limit of 30 minutes);

·           when the relevant Agenda item is being considered if they wish to speak on a matter which is on the Agenda for this meeting.

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One public statement was received from Mr Ian Conlon, representing the 20s Plenty Campaign.  In his absence, his statement was read out at the meeting as follows:

‘Councillors, may I suggest you discuss how you will communicate with the public and parishes your support for default 20mph requests.  Your voters want default 20mph.

·       58 Parish Councils in our County have voted for it, 9 in Ryedale, 10 in Hambleton.

·       NYCC have not consulted with either.

·       Parishes are your eyes and ears on the ground, and are reporting on going problems to you, with the expectation you act upon them.

·       70% of voters support default 20mph in surveys, before AND after implementation.

·       The old NYCC policy, and if the Executive didn’t accept our recommendations for default 20mph yesterday, the new one too, frustrates active travel, excluding the most dangerous, fastest roads in settlements where default 20mph has the biggest impacts on road safety.

·       NYCC focus on casualty records for 3 years in each location, ignores the fact that 30mph speeds suppress active travel and community cohesion right across settlements.

·       Perception of danger, which the report ignores, is key, not just accident statistics.

·       Children at primary age can’t judge speed accurately.

·       Voters of all ages want to walk and cycle safely, throughout settlements.

·       Many counties have found that the current DfT guidance does allow them to set 20mph for most urban and village roads, without physical calming.

·       There is no specific requirement for physical calming if average road speeds beforehand are above 24mph. In the rural Scottish Borders trial, the fastest roads had speed reduced by 6mph, bringing most drivers within the enforcement threshold for 20mph. Schemes consistently show 20-30% accident reductions, 30% when main roads are included. Karl Battersby recently claimed accident reductions on NYCC roads in 2020 a lockdown year with far fewer vehicle miles: both rose again in 2021.

·       Speed is always a factor in accidents.

·       Being hit at 30mph is like falling 8.8m, likely to kill or seriously injure, where 20mph hardly ever does.

·       You need default 20mph as part of your new Road Safety Strategy of Action Zero for the zero fatalities and serious injuries ambition.

·       Default 20mph is quick win for net zero emissions target by 2030. Recent research models 25% reduced CO2 and NOx emissions.

·       With each fatality “costing” £2million, and serious injury £250,000, DfT stats, you can’t afford NOT to do this,

·       Default 30mph policy pays for itself in 8 months, then ongoing benefits at no extra cost.

Make 30mph the exception and 20mph normal in North Yorkshire towns and villages. Your voters want it.’

The Chair recorded her thanks to Mr Conlon for his submission.  In response, she confirmed that if Councillors were asked to give their support to a formal request for a 20 mph zone, they would need to take account of their local knowledge to understand the key issues and problems, and any evidence gathered, before deciding whether it would appropriate to do so.  What they could not do was give blanket support to all requests without taking account of the individual circumstances.