31 October 2011 – Ahead of an important West Sussex County Council vote, Keith Taylor, the Green MEP for Sussex and the South East, will visit Central School in Chichester to back local people’s call for safer streets. Keith will visit Central Junior School to hear the concerns of parents and pupils and to support their campaign for 20mph speed limits in Chichester.
West Sussex County Council’s South Chichester County Local Committee will meet on Tuesday 1 November to decide whether to consult the public on the introduction of 20mph limits enforced by signage, without expensive road humps, on residential roads in the city. If they go ahead with the consultation, councillors will ask local people their views on three options: a 20mph limit for residential roads, a 20mph speed for all residential roads, including arterials or a 20mph limit applied in phases to various sections of the city.
The ’20’s plenty’ campaign group in the city has already collected over 3000 signatures on a petition in support of a lower speed limit and Keith is visiting Chichester to give his backing to the proposal. Keith supports the campaigners’ call for a 20mph limit on all residential roads, including arterials. This option is cheaper, simpler, targets the busy roads (including accident spots such as The Hornet, Southgate and Northgate roundabouts), will reduce traffic and is more likely to work because the limit applies to all roads.
Keith Taylor, a member of the European Parliament’s transport committee, recently gained support from the parliament for 20mph residential speed limits to be recommended as road safety best practice across the EU. 20mph limits would reduce road accidents and make Chichester a nicer place to live with quieter, calmer streets. Children would feel safer getting to school, noise would be reduced, and it would lead to more people walking and cycling around the city so harmful air pollution would be reduced. A reduction in accidents would not only reduce casualties and save lives, but would also save public money.
Portsmouth City Council has already introduced an area wide 20mph speed limit scheme. Last year the Department for Transport evaluation showed that the scheme had successfully reduced speeds in the city by an average of 6.3mph and the number of recorded road casualties fell by 22%.
Keith Taylor MEP said: “The facts are clear, a pedestrian hit by a car travelling at 20mph is likely to suffer slight injuries, but at 30mph they are likely to be severely hurt. The local ’20’s Plenty’ campaign has done a lot to highlight the benefits of a 20mph limit and I hope that the council will respond to the calls of local people by going ahead with a formal consultation on this issue. A reduction in the speed limit would significantly reduce the number of road accidents in Chichester as well as making it a quieter, less congested and polluted place to live.”
Sarah Sharp from ’20’s Plenty for Chichester’ said: The 20’s Plenty for Chichester group is delighted that Keith is supporting our campaign. We very much hope that Councillors will vote on Tuesday to improve the way we share our streets. It has been nearly a year since Chichester City Council voted to support 20’s Plenty. We hope that our County Councillors will follow suit and put people’s needs first, especially the needs of children and the elderly. Chichester has shown through our petition, which now has over 3,000 signatures, that we want to reclaim our streets for the community.”
