The London Borough of Croydon are pushing ahead with imposing wide-area 20 mph speed limits on the whole of the borough. There are two parts of Croydon (Areas 1 and 2) already committed to implementation after public consultations, with three more to go.

There were votes taken on the first two Areas (i.e. an open survey of residents with the votes counted). After suspicions of the vote being rigged on the first, they only got a narrow margin of support in the second area. Only responses from residents in each Area were accepted though so all visitors and other road users from other parts of the borough or outside the borough were ignored.

What has the Council now decided to do? Implement a “statutory consultation” in the more rural Areas 3, 4 and 5 instead which means they can avoid any direct vote of residents.

So if you don’t want 20 mph in most of the roads in Croydon, NOW IS THE TIME TO OBJECT.

HOW TO OBJECT

Go the Councils web site here: https://www.croydon.gov.uk/transportandstreets/roadsafety/20mph-areas-for-residential-roads/croydon-20mph-proposal where you can read more about the proposals. As there are three Areas there are in fact three separate Traffic Orders to which you can object. We recommend you object to all three separately. You don’t need to live or work in any of the Areas, and those who live outside of Croydon can also object as this is a statutory consultation.

You just need to send in an email or post a letter containing the reasons for your objections. Some possible reasons are given below. Otherwise send your emails to objections@croydon.gov.uk, or send letters to: Order Making Section, Parking Design Team, Place Department, Croydon Council, Floor 6 Zone C, Bernard Weatherill House, 8 Mint Walk, Croydon CR0 1EA. Be sure to include your name and postal address in emails or letters.

For Area 3 of Croydon, quote Reference PD/CH/A61.

For Area 4 of Croydon, quote Reference PD/CH/A62.

For Area 5 of Croydon, quote Reference PD/CH/A63.

Reasons you might give to object are:

– Many of the roads affected are not naturally perceived to be 20 mph roads so traffic is likely to exceed that speed (as they do at present).

– Drivers might be prosecuted for driving at 24 mph when it is perfectly safe to do so on those roads, particularly at certain times of day.

– Accidents will not be cut because a “signed-only” 20-mph scheme as proposed only achieves an average reduction of about 1 mph. Who will notice?

– It is a waste of money (£290,000 per Area!) that would be better spent on other road safety measures which would be more effective in reducing accidents (and yes it comes out of your taxes via TfL if you live in any London borough so the Councils consultation is misleading on that point).

– The Council alleges it will encourage cycling and walking when there is no evidence from anywhere in the country that it achieves this.

– The Council is pre-empting a Government commissioned research report on the cost effectiveness of 20-mph schemes. Why cannot the Council wait for the result?

– The Council says Portsmouth reduced accidents with their 20 mph scheme but that is inaccurate. In reality the Killed and Seriously Injured (KSIs) which are what really matters actually rose, and the overall changes were not statistically significant.

– The lower speeds will substantially affect journey times for road users (the Council simply is ignoring the facts on that point).

That is what happens when dogmatic politicians take control of a Council and decide they know best without listening to road safety experts, as is clearly the case in Croydon. Their idea of democracy is surely very different to most people’s.

So make sure you object NOW.

If you live in Croydon, please copy this note to your friends and relations and urgent them to submit a response to the Council.

Roger Lawson