I was heartened by the announcement on 9 June by Norman Lamb, the Lib Dem Transport Minister, that he was removing a lot of red tape that was holding the implementation of 20mph zones in residential areas. Councils no longer need to wait for Whitehall’s authorisation before implementing 20mph zones and many of the requirements for specific signs and other traffic calming measures have been removed.
This could be very good news for people living along residential roads who seem to have lost control of their streets to the omnipotent cars that speed along frightening young children, old folks and any other pedestrians or cyclists who thought that they had an equal right to use the road.
I believe that 20 mph should be the norm along residential streets and will go some way to allowing non-car users to feel safer in their own neighbourhoods.
I have a question on 20mph zones down for the next Council meeting and I very much hope that the Labour Administration will move ahead with 20mph zones in Reading.
The full announcement is at: