Birmingham council exploring ways to introduce more 20mph speed limits on city roads

Birmingham council has said it is exploring the possibility of introducing more 20mph speed limits on city roads amid fears over dangerous driving. The authority declared a road safety emergency back in the summer and already has plans to slash almost all of Birmingham ’s 40mph speed limits to 30mph.

According to a recently-published report on a Birmingham road safety inquiry, the council is looking at ways it could take further action to cut the number of collisions. The report, set to be discussed at a full council meeting next week, explained there is a link between reducing speed limits and reducing the numbers of people killed or seriously injured on the roads.

It continued that the council’s cabinet member for transport, councillor Majid Mahmood, had said he had sent a letter to the government requesting a “20mph zone for the whole of Birmingham”. “He is currently awaiting a response,” it added.

READ MORE: Birmingham council urged to take action as ‘scale of dangerous parking' branded 'unbelievable'

In a statement, Coun Mahmood told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that slower speed limits on appropriate roads would reduce collisions and save lives. "For this reason, our Birmingham Transport Plan sets out that 20mph should be the speed limit in residential areas and where footfall is high," he said.

"Other types of roads will remain unaffected. Additionally, slower speeds are less intimidating towards those who walk or cycle - activities that we need to encourage more of if we are to reduce the number of harmful emissions and traffic levels in the city."

He continued: “Approximately one third of the city’s roads are already subject to a 20mph speed limit. We would like to expand the number of roads subject to this speed limit where appropriate and are currently exploring opportunities to carry this out.”

Plans to introduce more 20mph limits in Birmingham would have to go through consultation first. According to the report, Coun Mahmood said that the recent introduction of a '20mph zone' in Wales had highlighted there would be “cost implications” for Birmingham council in implementing something similar.

The Welsh government controversially introduced a default 20mph speed limit on restricted roads across Wales last year. Restricted roads are usually in residential and built-up areas where there are lots of people and often have street lights on them.

The default 20mph speed limits were introduced with the aim of reducing the number of collisions and severe injuries; making streets safer; and encouraging more people to walk and cycle. They have proved deeply divisive however, with a recent YouGov survey suggesting that seven in ten Welsh people oppose them.

The Welsh Conservative Party has also been critical and said in the past that concerns had been raised about the “impact the blanket approach would have on main roads and the cost to the Welsh economy”.

How is Birmingham City Council planning to reduce speed limits already?

Birmingham City Council previously launched a consultation on proposals to review 40mph speed limits last year amid concerns over “anti-social and dangerous driver behaviour". It said at the time that the scheme aimed to improve road safety and encourage active travel such as walking and cycling.

The proposals divided opinion, with 949 of respondents opposed to the 30mph speed limit, 56.7 per cent. Meanwhile 635 said they supported it, 37.9 per cent and another 90 respondents said they were neutral towards the proposals.

But a decision was made to go ahead with the consultation, noting that while more than 55 per cent of the responses did not support the scheme, a “significant” percentage of those - around 25 per cent - were not necessarily against the proposals but were concerned with there being inadequate levels of enforcement.

A new public consultation was launched earlier this month on Speed Limit Orders, the legal documents required to make changes to the status of roads. It included a list of roads across Birmingham where the speed limit could be slashed from 40mph to 30mph.

Brumwish 2024 - buy a gift for a child in need

BrumWish 2024 is Birmingham Live's festive drive to get thousands of gifts to children and young people across our city - among them the homeless, the vulnerable, kids in care, kids who are poorly or struggling, and kids who have little.

There are THREE simple ways to help.

1. Buy a new gift from the Brumwish 2024 Amazon giftlist. In just a click your donation will be whizzing its way to our volunteers at Edgbaston Stadium.
2. Donate money to the appeal fund hosted by Thrive Together Birmingham - this will help pay for gifts for kids with specialist needs or specific wishes.
3. Buy a gift and, even better, rope in friends, neighbours and workmates to do the same, then drop off your pressies at Edgbaston Stadium, Edgbaston Road, B5 7QU on Friday 6th December, 10am - 3pm; Saturday 7th December, 10am - 1pm; or Monday 9th December, 10am - 1pm. Volunteers will be there to help you. Please don't wrap your gifts. You can also drop off by arrangement until Monday 16th December - contact Louise on 07469 979286.

Thanks to our partnership with #Toys4Birmingham, every single gift will find a good home in the loving care of a child living in B&Bs or hotels, hostels or refuges, children receiving support from specialist organisations and charities, and families being supported by children's centres and charities around the city.

Making up the Brumwish and Toys4Birmingham gang are Thrive Together Birmingham, Birmingham Playcare Network, Warwickshire Cricket Foundation (the charitable arm of Warwickshire County Cricket Club), Birmingham Forward Steps and BirminghamLive/Birmingham Mail.

Thank you to Amazon UK and the amazing team at the Sutton Coldfield depot for their support.

The consultation said reducing speed limits would ‘provide consistency across the city, improve driver compliance and aid enforcement. The changes to the highway would mainly involve changing and removing signs and could take place in early 2025, subject to approval.

The previous consultation said it was not proposed to have physical speed reduction measures or new enforcement cameras as part of this particular project. "The costs for this project come from the Clean Air Zone (CAZ) surplus income," the council said.

"This funding is ringfenced for use on transport schemes only and cannot be used for other purposes."