20’s Plenty 4th Annual Conference on 23rd May brought together news of the campaign’s progress over the past year.

• more local authorities have adopted the 20mph limit, so that 12 million people now live in areas where the 20mph limit applies, compared with 8 million a year ago
• Department for Transport has issued a circular encouraging local authorities to switch to 20mph speed limits
• public health has emerged as a driver for applying the 20mph limit, with local authorities like Bristol promoting walking and cycling as a cure for the national problem of obesity, following the adoption of the 20mph limit in the city
• the cost of applying the 20mph limit has fallen – Lancashire, which has adopted the limit, found it cost £6m to implement, rather than the budgetted £9m
• house prices have risena by 10% in streets where the 20mph limit has been introduced
• improved footfall for retailers where the 20mph limit has been introduced
• police are more willing to enforce the 20mph limit, in contrast to last year when a police representative at the conference said that police were reluctant to enforce the limit
• 75% of the public support the 20mph speed limit in residential areas

20s Plenty and Hebden Bridge Shared Space proposals

Shared space is an approach to solving traffic problems by giving equal rights to all road users, whether car drivers, pedestrians or cyclists. This 15 minute video shows how shared space has improved life in the Cheshire town of Poynton.

The new Hebden Bridge Partnership draft action plan  proposes to research the use of shared space in other towns, with a view to applying it as a solution to Hebden Bridge’s town centre traffic problems.

Myra James, Coordinator of Calderdale 20s Plenty for Us, said,

“Shared space is a very interesting idea and it’s worth researching whether it could be a suitable solution for parts of Hebden Bridge town centre. Experience in Poynton and elsewhere suggests traffic naturally slows down in a shared space area so it would support the existing town centre 20mph zone. This approach, combined with 20mph limits throughout our residential areas, could give us tamer traffic and more humane streets throughout our town.”

Support the Calderdale 20s Plenty For Us campaign

If you would like to support the Calderdale 20s Plenty for Us campaign to get Calderdale Council to adopt the 20mph limit on residential streets, contact Myra James at calderdale@20splentyforus.org.uk .

To stay up to date with the national 20‘s Plenty For Us Campaign, follow them on Twitter at @20splentyforus.