20mph speeding: U-turn on Lancashire Road Safety Partnership's ‘bonkers’ decision to pause new investigations as more resources announced

Last week the Post revealed how the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership had announced on its website: “Due to the unprecedented number of speeding concerns we continue to receive relating to 20mph limits, we have made the difficult decision to pause the assessment of newly received 20mph limit concerns from the 1st July 2023 onwards, in order to concentrate on properly assessing and appropriately responding to existing 20mph limit concerns.”

Criticism

The announcement was met with outrage from local councillors, one of whom claimed: "It’s literally like the three monkeys: “hear, see and speak no evil’.’"

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans said: “Clearly ensuring road users stick to the safe and appropriate speed limits has to be a priority for the police and local authorities...I have raised this with both the Police and Crime Commissioner and Lancashire County Council.”

Readers suggested that a lack of resources and an increasing number of 20mph zones was to blame.

Johannes Christian von Voges said: “Call it bonkers as much as you like. No money, no service.

“Plus all these new 20mph areas and wondering why they cannot be managed. It’s like council just come up with ideas but not plans. Then enact them without putting any intelligent effort in, then get confused nothing works.”

What has Lancashire Road Safety Partnership done?

Following the Post’s article, the Partnership removed the announcement from its website and said it will be continuing to accept reports for all speed limits.

Supt Hassan Khan, of Lancashire Police said: “Having reviewed the wording used on the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership website, we have decided to remove the previous phrasing in relation to 20mph limits to avoid any further confusion to those who wish to make a report.

"We are continuing to accept reports for all speed limits, including those in a 20mph area and would encourage anyone to report through the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership website.”

Supt Khan added: “We have aligned extra resources to risk assess and prioritise the submissions in order to provide a timely response to the public.”

Anyone who wishes to submit a report can do so here: Speed Concern Submission.

What do Lancashire County Council say?

Lancashire County Council is a member of the multi-agency group whiuch makes up the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership.

County Councillor Rupert Swarbrick, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: "Lancashire County Council was among the first of the highways authorities to introduce 20mph speed limits in residential areas and we know their enforcement matters to residents.

"The police are responsible for the enforcement of all speed limits across Lancashire, including in 20mph areas. Our responsibilities under the law are to survey local speeds and to explore potential solutions where those surveys reveal an issue.

"We would encourage people to continue report any concerns they may have about speeding in their local area so that they can be assessed and appropriate action taken."