North Wales politicians' views during latest 20mph debate

On Wednesday (September 25), the Welsh Conservatives brought forward a Welsh Parliament vote to scrap the 20mph speed limits in Wales.

But, calls to reverse the speed limit were rejected as Senedd members voted 37-14 against the motion.

This month marks one year since 20mph speed limit zones were introduced across Wales.

The move from 30mph to 20mph was made in order to 'help save lives'. But, it has faced major backlash with members of the public, politicians and more strongly opposing it.

A petition in opposition to the change gathered over 460,000 signatures.

But, it looks as though 20mph is here to stay for the time being at least.

During the latest debate on the speed limit in the Senedd, north Wales politicians offered their views.

Here's what they had to say...

Janet Finch-Saunders (MS for Aberconwy)

UGC (Image: Janet Finch-Saunders MS.) "The default 20 mph speed limit across the majority of residential roads in Wales has faced some of the most significant criticism to legislation I have ever witnessed. What was intended to improve road safety and reduce emissions has instead sparked widespread frustration, condemnation and opposition from the public, our local businesses and local authorities.

"Thirty-three million pounds has been spent on its implementation, which, as you can imagine, has angered those who feel that these moneys should have instead gone into our failing health service, or into our education budgets to fund the woeful shortage of teachers.

"One of the fundamental issues with its implementation was the distinct lack of consultation and engagement with those it would be affecting, i.e. our motorists, our carers, our workers, our residents, our emergency services, and, of course, our local transport systems.

"Such is the reputation of this very flawed legislation, there are now reports that visitors are in decline, for fear that they could be fined or gain points on their licence. And if you don't believe me, speak to the hospitality industry, who keep being asked, even before people make bookings, and then sometimes people are cancelling those bookings.

"Some of the problems relayed to me by constituents are that they, when sticking to the limit, are being aggressively tailgated by very frustrated drivers trying to navigate the constant changes in speed limit. I've got a road in Aberconwy that is 60 mph, then 40 mph, then 20 mph, then 60 mph, and people are really finding it difficult."

Carolyn Thomas (MS for North Wales)

Carolyn Thomas MS. (Image: Carolyn Thomas MS.) "We carried out a speed limit review when I was a cabinet member in Flintshire. You have to do them so often because of new developments, accidents and petitions, local petitions. It took about five years to do, drawing up plans, consulting, writing and advertising legal notices, putting all the signs in place and working through the anomalies, because you do get anomalies.

"With any major speed limit review, there are anomalies and variables to be worked through afterwards, which could be based on further challenges with accident data and character of the road.

"The roll-out of 20 mph and the density issue has been a particular concern in north-east Wales, where there is a lot of inter-urban connectivity and ribbon developments of houses along these arterial routes, which are an issue.

"You can travel from one town centre to another with the speed limit continually being at 20 mph because of the density of houses built along the road. That's the case from Buckley to Mold, which is why we have a lot of complaints from Buckley.

"This has also caused an issue for bus timetable compliance in the region, and a return to 30 mph for some of the arterial routes will be welcomed by the industry. We also need to include some roads that haven't been made 20 mph, and I feel they should be."

Mark Isherwood (MS for North Wales)

Mark Isherwood MS (Image: Welsh Government) "To say that the indiscriminate 20 mph speed limit has been unpopular would be an understatement. As we know, 469,571 people signed the Senedd petition - the largest petition in the Senedd's history, and Welsh local authorities have received requests for thousands of roads to revert from 20 mph to 30 mph.

"A separate petition, launched in Buckley, Flintshire, the north Wales 20 mph pilot area, reached nearly 86,000 signatures.

When the Welsh Government's 20 mph default speed limits were put to the people in September 2023, opposition was 61 per cent. With the one-year anniversary of implementation of the 20 mph legislation in Wales approaching, a YouGov poll last month showed that seven in 10 Welsh people still opposed this.

"Although the Welsh Government has called recent figures showing a 17 per cent fall in people killed or seriously injured on 20 mph and 30 mph roads in the first six months after the limit was introduced encouraging, they failed to mention that the number killed or seriously injured on 20 mph roads had risen from 4 per cent to 34 per cent of the total, despite their repeated assurances that 20 mph roads would provide a sanctuary of safety, whilst the number on 30 mph roads had fallen from 47 per cent to just 6 per cent of the total. And they failed to mention that the overall number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads has increased by 10 per cent.

"Before the default 20 mph limit came into force, I warned that switching 30 mph limits to 20 mph limits would transfer the share of road casualties from one to the other, whilst also displacing drivers, and therefore road casualties, onto the wider road network, and this data demonstrates that this is happening."

Ken Skates (MS for Clwyd South and Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales)

Ken Skates MS. (Image: Welsh Government) "This policy was brought in to make places safer, and police data clearly and unequivocally shows that collisions on 20 mph and 30 mph roads have reduced since the introduction of 20 mph, the lowest on record outside the COVID pandemic period.

"Now, it's only been in place for a year, and there is some way to go, and I anticipate numbers may fluctuate, but I think it's encouraging to see that things are moving in the right direction.

"Now, highlighted by today's debate, it does continue to divide opinion. I accept that. Members and I had the opportunity to acknowledge the petition back in May this year in response to the Petitions Committee debate, and I'll repeat what I said then to everyone that has signed the petition: I can guarantee that we are listening.

"Earlier this year, I announced a three-phase plan for 20 mph, which included a national listening programme, and over the summer we engaged with people, businesses and communities right across Wales to share views particularly on roads that should retain the 20 mph limit and which should revert back to 30 mph.

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"Members have identified that more than 10,000 people have identified routes that should change, and this input has been vital in shaping the next steps.

It's led to the biggest step change in road safety for a generation, and we'll continue to monitor the long-term trend to evaluate the economic health and environmental impacts of the policy.

This will include a five-year evaluation, providing a process evaluation report by 2025, a mid-term evaluation report by April 2027, and a final impact evaluation report by 2029.

"Now, the international evidence is clear: lower speeds save lives. There are fewer collisions, fewer deaths and fewer severe injuries, reducing the devastation to individuals and their families. But, as with all policies, we know that there is more that we can do."

Gareth Davies (MS for Vale of Clwyd)

Gareth Davies MS. (Image: Welsh Government) "A YouGov poll found that 70 per cent of Welsh people opposed the 20 mph speed limit change. So, if the policy has no support from the Welsh public and lacks support from a cohort of Welsh Government Ministers, why continue to save face, clinging to this policy that no-one, including those who oversaw its introduction, agrees was a success from its beginning in this Chamber to its roll-out across the country?

The impact on businesses across Wales has been severe. We know from the tourism barometer that tourists are being put off travelling and staying in Wales because of the 20 mph speed limit change. Deliveries are taking longer; emergency service response times are poorer, if they could get any poorer; and bus services have been disrupted, including an Arriva Cymru service in my consistency that had to remove stops from its route to maintain punctuality—the most notable one being the Tweedmill factory outlet in St Asaph.

"I'm pleased that's to be restored, but there are still other bus stops that remain excluded from the bus timetable for only this reason, and that was quoted by Arriva Buses Wales themselves."