Rishi Sunak’s speech at the close of the Conservative Party Conference is surely to be welcomed by all those who use our roads and want rational economic decisions to be taken. It included this statement on HS2: “I am ending this long running saga. I am cancelling the rest of the HS2 project. And in its place we will reinvest every single penny, £36 billion, in hundreds of new transport projects in the North and the Midlands, and across the country. This means £36 billion of investment in the projects that will make a real difference across our country. We’ll help Andy Street extend the West Midlands Metro… Build the Leeds tram, electrify the North Wales main line…Upgrade the A1, the A2, the A5, the M6 and we’ll connect our Union with the A75 boosting links between Scotland and Northern Ireland. We’ll fund the Shipley bypass, the Blyth relief road and deliver 70 other road schemes. We’ll resurface roads across the country”.

So we should be getting some improvements to congested major roads even if money is to be wasted on tram systems which are rarely justified on a cost/benefit ratio.

Meanwhile in London Sadiq Khan is putting up two fingers to the Government’s commitment to halt irrational 20 mph speed limits. Transport for London (TfL) will introduce 65km of new 20mph speed limits within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Lewisham, Southwark, Wandsworth, Merton, Bromley and Lambeth. The new speed limits will be introduced in stages over the last four months of the year.

TfL is also working with the Met Police to increase their capacity to take enforcement action against drivers and riders who speed. They are currently on track to be able to take action on a million speeding offences by 2024/5, to provide a more effective deterrent to speeding.

A 20mph limit will be introduced on sections of the following roads:

A232: West Wickham High Street (scheme to go live in September)

A205: St John Wilson Street, Well Hall Road (scheme to go live in October)

A4: Cromwell Road, Brompton Road (scheme to go live in October)

A3220: Pembroke Road, Holland Road, Warwick Road, Redcliffe Gardens (scheme to go live in October)

A20: Eltham Road, Lee High Road, Lewisham Way (scheme to go live in November)

A202: Queens Road, Peckham High Street, Camberwell Church Street, Camberwell New Road (scheme to go live in December)

A2: New Cross Road, Old Kent Road (scheme to go live in December)

A201: New Kent Road (scheme to go live in December)

A100: Tower Bridge Road (scheme to go live in December)

A200: Jamaica Road (scheme to go live in December)

A3: Clapham Road, Kennington Park Road (scheme to go live in December)

A3204: Kennington Lane (scheme to go live in December)

A203: Stockwell Road (scheme to go live in December)

A23: Camberwell New Road, Streatham Hill, Streatham High Road (scheme to go live in December)

A214: Tooting Bec Road (Scheme to go live in December)

A24: Clapham Common South Side, Balham High Road, Upper Tooting Road, High Street Colliers Wood (scheme to go live in December)

A205: Woolwich Common, South Circular Road, Catford Road, Stanstead Road, London Road, Thurlow Road, Christchurch Road, Poynders Road, Dulwich Common (scheme to go live in December)

Comment: This is an irrational and unjustified attack on drivers. Speed of traffic has already been considerably reduced in recent years in London with no obvious impact on road casualties.

Rishi Sunak speech in full: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/rishi-sunaks-full-speech-conservative-27843617

TfL Press Release: https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2023/september/tfl-to-launch-65km-of-new-lower-speed-limit-schemes-to-cut-road-danger-across-the-capital-and-save-lives

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Drivers_London

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