Campaigners may win speed limit

Joanne Ginley

THE speed limit on a rural route in Bramhope, in Leeds, could be reduced from 60pm to 30mph following a five-year campaign by residents.

Residents on Moorland Road and Occupation Lane in Bramhope, have been campaigning for five years to have a 60mph limit near their homes slashed to 30mph.

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Last year children got involved in the campaign when they made 30mph signs which were hung up in Moorland Road during a protest held to highlight the road’s dangers.

However, critics say there is no need to lower the speed limit on roads where there have been no personal injury accidents and which are country roads used by low numbers of motorists.

Earlier this year a Civic Hall deputation addressed a meeting of the full council urging action to cut the limit.

Councillors were told Moorland Road was used as a rat run by motorists to avoid 30mph limits on other roads.

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This week victory is in sight for the campaigners with members of the council’s executive board meeting tomorrow to decide whether to back proposals to reduce the speed limit.

A report to members of the executive board says: “The roads in question, Moorland Road and Occupation Lane are narrow, unclassified country roads where on-coming vehicles have difficulty in passing and, as one resident wrote ‘no less than five blind bends on this road within a stretch of 1.5miles’.

“At the eastern end is a concentration of residential properties. The remaining length has numerous farms and access to the district Scout camp grounds.”

Coun Clive Fox (Con., Adel & Wharfedale), whose ward covers Bramhope, yesterday welcomed the decision to restrict the speed limit near people’s houses but he said he was less convinced about the need to change it in the rural area.

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However, he recognised arguments that changing the limit on the entire stretch would offer better continuity, linking in with other speed restrictions in the area.

However, he warned: “It’s one thing to have a speed restriction and its a very different thing to actually enforce it and if it just becomes a token speed restriction then it will achieve nothing.” Councillors will be told when they meet that the accident records for both roads since 1999 show there are no reported personal injury accidents.

A report to be considered by members says: “Currently a 60mph speed limit extends along Moorland Road, westwards, from its junction with Moor Road up to the junction of Occupation Lane with its junction at Old Lane.

“The existing speed limit of 60mph for a single carriageway is a national speed limit and is consistent with many similar types of road in Leeds. Old Lane and Moor Lane, from Old Lane to a point just south of Moorland Road are covered by existing 30mph speed limits,” says the report.

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Supporters of the changes have also included Greg Mulholland MP (Lib Dem, Leeds North West).

Residents including mother Sarah Kingston have been campaigning for years for the speed limit to be reduced, with the road described as “an accident waiting to happen”.

Mrs Kingston said at a protest staged last November: “There’s 11 children under the age of 10 living on this road and it’s ludicrous that a residential area should have a speed limit of 60mph.”

Critics of the scheme argue it will be difficult to enforce and say it is an unnecessary step for a route where there have been no serious accidents.

The report adds: “The average speeds and low usage suggest many of the motorists are regular travellers and are aware of the surrounding environment and nature of the road.”

joanne.ginley@ypn.co.uk