Welsh authorities to announce they’re scrapping 20mph velocity limits

The Welsh Labour government is set to scrap its blanket 20mph speed limits just a year after they were introduced. 

Ken Skates, the Welsh transport minister, admitted ‘errors have been made’ with the scheme, which is set to be reverted in September this year with the introduction of new guidance across the country. 

This will allow local authorities to raise the speed limit to be back to 30mph on certain roads ‘outside urban centres and rural residential roads with no nearby facilities’. 

They will also be increased on major routes, such as bus corridors, with minimal cyclist and pedestrian traffic and on some urban roads. 

It comes after more than half a million signatures were added to a Senedd petition opposing the divisive policy aimed at reducing carbon emissions.

Skates told the the devolved Senedd parliament: ‘Errors have been made, but the new guidance will enable us to correct them, and it’s my hope that [with] this guidance we will begin to see the process this autumn of changes to 20mph areas.’ 

He added that while the speed limit on some routes could also be reduced, the number of these is ‘likely to be dwarfed, though, by the number of roads that would revert back from 20 to 30. 

‘That process will begin in the autumn,’ he said. 

‘Signage changes, I imagine, will be made by the end of this year, going into the next calendar year. 

‘And it’s my hope and expectation that by this time next year, it will be settled.’ 

Skates revealed that it would cost £5 million to revert the roads back to 30mph, which is just under a sixth of the £32 million it cost for the original scheme. 

The policy was introduced in September last year, with the promise that lower speed limits would lead to fewer collisions and people injured.

The Welsh Government provided funding to Wales’ 22 councils for new signs required to alert drivers of the speed limit. 

It has seen fierce opposition from the Conservatives in the Senedd, who have branded it a ‘waste of time and resources’.

He said that while the policy had been in Labour’s manifesto during the last Senedd election, he understood that people in Wales ‘lead busy lives’ and do not ‘spend their evenings flicking through the programme for government’.

Earlier this year vigilante drivers rebelled against the introduction of the 20mph speed limits after groups trashed more than 150 signs across the country.

Since September, there have been multiple reports of 20mph signs being vandalised across Wales, with one sign in Carmarthenshire having been snapped in half, while others have been sprayed in black paint to hide the 20 figures.

Carmarthenshire County Council said it was becoming ‘increasingly concerned’ after ‘a spate of incidents’ towards roadsigns – including 20mph ones.

Gwent Police figures show two recorded incidents of vandalism to speed signs since September, leading to one person being arrested and charged.

The force recorded eight incidents of speed limit sign vandalism in the five years before that.

Since the law went into force, Monmouthshire Council reported 22 incidents of vandalism to its 20mph signs. 

All councils said Welsh Government funding for new signs cover anticipated repair costs.

The Welsh scheme to reduce the default speed limit for ‘restricted roads’ from 30mph affects 7,700 miles of road. 

The speed limit reduction to 20mph affects ‘restricted roads’ – those with ‘street lights spaced no more than 200 yards apart, usually located in residential and built-up areas’.

According to its own impact assessment, the ‘main economic dis-benefit’ of the new regime ‘relates to increased journey times from lower average vehicle speeds’. It states that this could result in an economic hit of up to £9 billion over 30 years.

But the then Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford said the 20mph speed limit would save lives and the cost was ‘outweighed’ by reduced impact on the NHS and emergency services.

Mr Drakeford has said ‘the evidence is incontrovertible’ that ‘driving more slowly in built-up urban areas saves people’s lives’ and that it will save the NHS in Wales £92 million as a result.

He cited a similar scheme in Spain, saying it had cut urban deaths by 20 percent.

MailOnline spoke to some motorists when the scheme was introduced in September last year who did not share Mr Drakeford’s optimism. 

Groundworker Kevin Khan, 52, said his journey from Caerphilly into the city centre was already an hour due to traffic.

He said: ‘They need to stop it but they won’t. It’s just dictator Drakeford imposing his will on us again.

‘It’s terrible decision. Traffic is already so bad that we’re going nowhere fast. I spend my mornings stuck in it. It’s a huge pain in the a***.

‘I can’t see that it will make anything safer. What will make people safer is if they learn how to look properly before crossing a road.’

Businessman Jason Pritchard, 32, needs to drive to carry tools and workers for his dry lining company in South Wales and said the limits will be ‘a nightmare’.

Father-of-four Jason said: ‘I agree with it around schools and places like that but I don’t see the point on some of these main roads.

‘From 30 to 20 is a big jump and will double journey times for some people and traffic is already bad enough.

‘I leave early in the mornings so I can beat the traffic, I leave around 6am and my journey from the Rhondda takes about 30 minutes, but on the way home I get stuck in it all and it takes an hour. That’s only going to get worse now.

‘I’d like to get the train to work and some of my employees already do, but you can’t when you have tools to carry or you might have to go elsewhere to pick something up – and it’s not like I can cycle either.

‘I don’t think it will make much of a difference to safety either. I think you will see more frustrated drivers and that can be dangerous.

‘The more time I spend in my car costs me more, makes my day longer, and takes me away from my family.’

Electrician James Gregg, 27, of Burnham on Sea, was working in Cardiff and commuted in his van.

He said: ‘I need the van for work and it takes me all over the South West and Wales there are more of these 20 zones and drivers need better signage.

‘I think reducing all 30s down to 20 is ridiculous. I think it will only mean people spend more time in their cars.

‘In some areas where they put the 20 limits are pointless.’

Rugby club worker Stacey Chappell, 37, of Ely, Cardiff, said: ‘The reduction is bad for traffic which is bad enough anyway. You’re stuck in traffic and people on bikes are going faster than you.

‘I can’t get a bike because I have to take my children to school and carry stuff with me and I don’t think I would get one anyway, I wouldn’t feel safe.

‘You can’t get public transport because it is so unreliable and so I feel I have to drive.’

Food courier Sridhar Yellu, 27, said traffic is so bad in central Cardiff already that he couldn’t do his job using a car – and his electric bike is a far quicker way to travel.

He said: ‘I work within a three-mile area but if I had to do it with a car I would get stuck in traffic.

‘My bike has a top speed of 15mph but it is much quicker for me to pick up from a restaurant, deliver to a customer and get back again, than if I had a car.

‘If I used a car to make the same journeys then everyone’s meal would get cold by the time I got there.’

Chris Kenward, 31, works at Cardiff’s Electric Bike Shop, and expected more people to turn to the benefits of electric bikes with the speed reductions.

He said: ‘If you add a motor to your bike you can get to work and do your daily commute without breaking a sweat, that’s one of the advantages.

‘There is currently a 15.5mph speed limit on the bikes so although they’re not quite as fast as a 20mph limit they are not far off.

‘We are seeing more interest now in cargo bikes which you can fit two children’s seats to the back of so more people are doing the school run in them which may increase with the new limits.

‘The more bike lanes in Cardiff will speed up bike travel around the city but some of them at the moment are not very well looked after and even as an experienced cyclist it can still be scary riding in traffic.

‘The roads are already busy and traffic is bad around the city centre – and that’s before the introduction of 20mph.’

Grandmother Suzanne Stephens, 59, however agreed the scheme would save lives.

She said: ‘I’m all for it. I drive all the time but if it makes it safer for people then I don’t have a problem.

‘I do the school run but even if it takes a bit more time then I don’t mind. Safety and safety of children is all that counts.’

Nicola Ryder, 55, a carer for the elderly in Swansea, said: ‘It won’t stop the boy racers but will impact on ordinary people going about their day. 

‘I’m okay because I only look after three people a day and I can juggle it. But some of my colleagues are on the clock and the new speed limit will affect them.

‘If there was a referendum, people would vote no. We pay our taxes but we weren’t consulted on this – the people in the Senedd just tell us to do as we are told.’

Pensioner Vivienne Moore, 73, of Townhill, Swansea, said: ‘I’ve just driven to the shops from m my home two miles away and other drivers were beeping their horn at me because I was doing 20mph.

‘If you ask me, they should have lowered it to 25mph, that would have been far more sensible.’

And university lecturer Cerys Hillier, 32, from Swansea, said: ‘I get it, they have lowered the speed and for safety reasons but there are a lot of factors they’ve not taken into account.

‘I’m concerned about greater emissions, taxi fares going up for people without cars.’

Swansea schoolteacher Will Rees, 30, said that while the new measures made sense in built-up areas and schools, he thought ‘busy throroughfares’ should remain 30mph zones.