Campaigners urge 20mph speed curb

Party activist Rob Unwin will be taking a petition from residents of Central and Broomhill wards to the Central Community Assembly meeting tomorrow.

He said: "The 20mph speed limit would only apply to residential roads, not main routes. These schemes work best where they are in force throughout a whole city or borough, for example in Portsmouth.

"Research from the UK and elsewhere has shown that city-wide limits of 20mph have significantly reduced speeds in just the first year of operation, and after several years have reduced urban accident rates by up to two-thirds.

A spokesman for the Green Party said that, where they have been introduced, the speed limits have encouraged more people to walk and cycle but have only increased the time of a 15-minute car journey by one minute.

The 20mph limits have also reduced vehicle emissions by 12 per cent, due to less acceleration and deceleration, they said.

Tomorrow's Central Community Assembly meeting will run from 6pm to 8pm at the Quaker Meeting House in St James Street.