Councillor slammed over city speed limit

The proposed third local transport plan is set to be presented to the government by York Council in the next few months.

But yesterday, Andy D'Agorne, the city's Green group leader, described the plan as "weak, half-hearted and without vision" and demanded it is called in for an urgent review.

Councillor D'Agorne claims the plan has failed in its environmental commitments and has also accused Steve Galloway, executive member of city strategy of excluding responses to public consultation on imposing a 20mph speed limit in York by a local transport campaign group.

He said: "The previous transport plan has been a failure and this will be more of the same.

"20mph limits would be a low-cost measure yielding immediate benefits in saved lives and better conditions for walkers and cyclists. The fact that the local campaign for slower speeds on our roads has encouraged many residents to respond to this survey should not mean that the views of those residents should in any way be discounted."

Coun Galloway said a universal 20mph zone in York has not been ruled out but is not currently part of the new transport plan. He denied any public consultation had been suppressed.

He also said the plan included environmental measures such as electric car charging points and low-emission buses.

"We have made considerable progress with the previous transport plan under the conditions placed on us by central government funding", he said. "We centred our main efforts on reducing the number of accidents and I am pleased to be able to say that the number of people killed and seriously injured on York's roads last year was at an all time record low."