HAS THE time now come for the Welsh Labour Government and Ken Skates MS – Cabinet Secretary for North Wales and Transport - to finally admit to the public that the implementation of the 20mph legislation was never about benefits to the climate, not about saving lives or saving the NHS money?

We question whether the decision to implement the policy was only ever about meeting their agenda as set out in the Welsh Labour document Wales Transport Delivery Plan.

When Welsh Government first announced their “we are listening” exercise it included a review of the current guidance that Local Authorities across Wales used to determine whether a road met the criteria for being 20mph.

Members of the public were not just asked but actively encouraged to contact their Local Authority with information on roads that they felt should be returned to 30mph.

This sounds good but the reality is that no one in Welsh Government is actually listening or explaining their agenda to the public. The promised benefits to the environment did not happen.

This is illustrated by these direct quotes from the Welsh Government document “Introducing 20mph speed limits: frequently asked questions”.

“Transport for Wales (TfW) published the 20mph phase 1 air quality monitoring report in May 2024. The data shows no material effect on local air quality to date.”

As well as “Imperial College London found that 20mph limited areas were “pollution neutral”.

Welsh Government then moved the emphasis to saving lives. This too is not supported by recently released statistics. The figures comparing Quarter 4 2022 with Quarter 4 2023 (when 20mph was implemented) do not show the promised benefit of lives saved and serious injuries reduced.

There has been one less death when comparing those quarterly figures and serious injuries actually increased to 92.

RELATED READING: Your own experiences of 20mph as MS brands it 'complete and utter shambles'

The announcement last week on the revised guidelines does nothing to dissipate the anger felt towards the Welsh Labour Government.

All this legislation has achieved is more scrutiny of Welsh Government than they have ever had over the last 25 years.

For the first time the public are more engaged with how the Senedd works and how they operate. To date, that scrutiny has found a lot to be angry about.

The waste of public money, the “we know best” attitude, adding 36 more Senedd members at a time when the NHS and all public services are struggling for funding.

The Welsh Labour Government is out of touch with the wants and needs of the people they represent.

Changing First Minister will only work if the next candidate not only says they will listen to the people they want to represent but takes action to show they have truly listened and will not make the same mistakes as their predecessors.

United Voices (Senedd Lobby Group established in 2023 to monitor and protest against the impact of the 20mph legislation. Members of the group come from across Wales).