Dear All,
Following the Zoom meeting yesterday evening, the presentation slides are available on Dropbox at
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6lo3eg6y5h9un15/20mph%20presentation%20N%20Somerset%20supporters.pptx?dl=0
I also attach a ‘ How to Set Up a 20mph campaign’ leaflet
The advantages of setting up a local campaign for your town or village are that firstly other supporters have a local point of contact where they live, and there is access to the very helpful campaigners-only discussion group run by the national ‘ 20’s Plenty for Us’ organisation. Anyone wanting to find out more about organisations backing 20 mph in North Somerset, ( or elsewhere) then has an easy way to find your contact details via the ‘ 20’s Plenty ‘ website, www.20splenty.org, then going to ‘ Who we are, Local Campaigns and Places’. Please do consider setting up a local campaign. ’20’s Plenty for Us’ provides campaign materials, advice, research and resources, and deserves our support.
A 20’s Plenty for North Somerset Facebook page has been set up, which you are all warmly invited to join and contribute to. It will provide a useful point of contact for sharing ideas. If anyone would like to set up a Twitter or other social media group, please do get in touch. All contributions and comments are welcome.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1404083953292502
It was very useful, and much appreciated, to see Cllr James Tonkin and Rob Thomson of NSC Highways at our meeting yesterday, and to hear their views. We now know that there are numerous, probably in excess of 8, Town and Parish Councils who have applied for consideration of 20 mph speed limits, which a Highways Team is working through, at the rate of 1 or 2 a year. Austerity and the pandemic continue to take a serious toll on local authorities country-wide, but fortunately there is Housing Infrastructure and Active Travel funding available to bring in North Somerset traffic schemes, including a speed reduction scheme.
We also know now that the draft policy document on 20 mph speed limits, following the report to the Executive on 7th January 2020, is still in draft. This allows the possibility of a new policy for North Somerset, one which will benefit more towns and villages more quickly, by bringing in an authority-wide policy of 20 mph for residential streets, as many Traffic Authorities in the UK already have. That will be a decision for North Somerset Councillors to make, who will be invited to a separate ’20’s Plenty for North Somerset’ meeting later on this month. This gives us the chance, as supporters of a lower 20 mph limit, to get in touch with our communities and our councillors to spread the word.
Working from the Report to the Executive on 20 mph speed limits which was considered in January 2020, a comparison between that and current government policy,as set out in the Department for Transport Circular 1/2013, has been prepared by a member of 20’s Plenty for Sandford, also attached. Click here for report. This may be useful to you as background, as it talks about the issue of North Somerset Highways’ rejection of wide- area 20 mph limits for our County. We have yet to see the draft policy document from 2020, so that can’t as yet be commented on, but it is expected to follow the Report fairly closely, as that is what was voted on by Councillors.
We are looking forward to hearing from you all.
Sincerely,
Cresten and Ian for
20’s Plenty for Sandford