Lincolnshire County Councillor Richard Cleaver campaigns for new 20mph speed limit policy

Dropping speed limits could become easier and 20mph zones outside schools made enforceable if a new policy is accepted by a council.

Lincolnshire County Councillor Richard Cleaver (Ind - Stamford West) wants to make all existing advisory 20mph limits outside schools mandatory.

He also believes town and parish councils should be allowed to make requests for 20mph zones in areas where they think these might be appropriate.

Coun Cleaver, a member of Stamford Community Speedwatch, said: “It’s important to me because it’s important to the people I represent.

“There is a lot of concern about safety, not just around schools but on roads where people don’t feel safe.

“It’s not a big ask for people to travel 20mph in a built up area.”

As part of his election campaign in 2021 Coun Cleaver pledged to push for 20mph zones to be allowed upon request from communities and a couple of months after he was elected an agreement was made by the council to review its speed limit policy.

Since then, he says there has been no progress.

Today, Coun Cleaver will bring the proposals back to the top of the council’s agenda and ask councillors to support a 20mph speed limit policy. The meeting takes place at 10.30am.

He said: “I hope people see that it’s a reasonable and rational thing to do.

“It’s about empowering communities to have some control over what happens on their roads.”

Many areas near schools are subject to an advisory 20mph speed limit - but this is not enforceable and drivers are not penalised for exceeding it.

“If we are trying to encourage children to walk and cycle to school because it’s healthy we need them to feel safe,” said Coun Cleaver.

“Where there is heavy pedestrian footfall we should be able to ask, if appropriate, for the speed limit to be dropped.

“We can see some streets in Stamford where it would be helpful.”

Lincolnshire County Council is in the process of creating a new transport strategy for Stamford.

Draft plans include aspirations to change speed limits in the town centre, particularly near schools and in the surrounding residential area.

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