Last evening the Cheshire West & Chester Administration,
which is Labour run, passed a motion that allows our Borough Council Highways Department
to implement 20 mph speed limits on residential roads across our Borough
with no consultation.
I should say at the outset as a Conservative Cllr that I
fully support reduced speed limits, including 20mph limits, where they are beneficial,
where they will be adhered to and most importantly where they are wanted by
local communities. I do not support the blanket imposition of 20mph speed
limits based on a weak, ill thought out political objective.
The Lab Cabinet members at the meeting I attended last night referred time and again during
the cabinet meeting to the fact that they were attempting to affect drivers “behaviours”.
I am afraid they collectively demonstrated an utter failure to understanding how
we are best able to influence and change an individuals behaviour. Antecedents,
Behaviours and Consequences (behavioural ABC if you are Googling) are
inextricably linked to any behavioural change program. You quite simply will not
implement the required change if these three interrelated key ingredients are
divided. Here we have an approach based only on the antecedents, there is no
thought given to consequences or “enforcement” of speed limits. Our Lab Cllrs simplistically
believe simply “telling” people to do something will work. It doesn’t.
But we have a “respecting, listening, open and transparent”
Labour administration here in CWaC, don’t we?
I am not so sure. Let’s look at the facts. This Lab
Administration issued a consultation document entitled Let’s Talk at the end of
last year, this “consultation” document was still open for comments (never
mind responses collated, assessed and published) as last night’s decision was being
made by the Cabinet. Can you really be an open, honest, transparent council, respecting
the views of those it purports to represent, when you make Key Decisions which
impact on 10’s of thousands of our residents before the public consultation even
closes?
When any administrative body takes such a top down,
dictatorial approach to decision making the likely outcome will be a lack of
buy in, trust and support for those decisions. If we take the 20mph speed limit
decision, a decision taken in exactly this way, the likely impact will be to
alienate residents and drivers to many of the new speed limits. Without the engagement
and support of local communities drivers are far less likely to adhere to the lower
speed limits. The reverse is true of vulnerable road users. Pedestrians,
cyclists, the young and the elderly will believe they are at less risk due to
the perception a “20mph speed limit” and associated signage delivers, irrespective as
to whether or not the speed limit is adhered to or enforced. There is a clear and extremely worrying
disconnect here between road users.
So what is the Conservative proposition you ask? We have a
very different approach in as much as it is based solely on community consultation
and support. We believe where a community identifies the need for a 20mph limit
they can have one put in place, with the full support of the council, following
a full and open consultation with those members of their community who will be
affected. The consultation we use is in the form of a local referendum with a
majority of responses being in favour of the proposal triggering the installation
of the 20mph limit. A truly open and engaging approach I would argue.
Labour have seen fit to take this option away from us as residents here in Cheshire West and Chester. They will argue that they have replaced
this open approach to community consultation with the option to “comment via a
TRO”. What is a TRO I hear you cry? It is a Traffic Regulation Order which in
short is the legal framework local authorities use to make changes to the
Highways network they manage on our behalf. Hidden in this legal framework is a
level of consultation that amounts to little more than a couple of lines in the
advertising section of a local newspaper. Not exactly something that is going
to give any proposal a thorough airing, or is likely to be discussed by friends
and neighbours over a pint on a Friday night. How many TRO’s have you engaged
in in the past?
All in all this Labour Administration’s “we know best and
therefore you are having it” approach is a worrying development for future community
engagement, road safety and to local decision making here in Cheshire West and Chester.
For information I have attached the link to the Cabinet papers that include the maps of the areas, in Appendix 3, as currently proposed. The paper that was unanimously passed by the Labour Cabinet last night.
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