Slower Derbyshire

Many thanks for your response (copy enclosed).

I believe that the county council is not actually following current government recommendations/guidelines. For instance as can be seen from the Traffic Advisory 01/2004 it was recommended that village speed limits on major routes be 30mph since January 2004. Suffolk County Council managed to implement this strategy in the years 1994-1996 (no doubt for a minimal outlay) and that was over 10 years ago! It appears that Suffolk granted 30mph limits to all those that asked for them - I sincerely hope that Derbyshire will do the same. I have included a copy of their current policy - maybe Derbyshire could contact them to share their experience? The recommendation of village speed limits of 30mph will no doubt be part of the updated guidelines "Update of Circular Roads 1/93, Setting Local Speed Limits". I responded to this consultation and recently asked the Minister of Transport when the new guidelines would be available as they are long overdue - I enclose a copy of the response.

As can be seen by the letters from the Department for Transport the police are free to enforce speed limits as they see fit. This means that the usual excuse that a change in limits would be "unenforceable" does not seem at all correct. As can also be seen from the letters it is expected that road users adhere to all the posted speed limits (irrespective of whether any traffic calming measures are in place) - so there should be no need for expensive traffic calming before a reduction in speed limit is introduced.

Please could you explain why Hulland Ward is not eligible for a pedestrian crossing, despite most residents being separated from the amenities, but Pride Parkway¹, Derby and Cokayne Avenue, Ashbourne recently had one? The village appears to have a far higher number of juggernauts/large dumper trucks using Main Road than either Pride Parkway or Cokayne Avenue. The Parish Council have requested a crossing for over 20 years.

Do you possess a table of the villages in Derbyshire along with their speed limits? I would be especially interested in villages on major routes. Villages with 40mph speed limits on major routes that I can think of include Weston Underwood, Kirk Langley, Fenney Bentley and Hulland Ward. I believe that all these villages would greatly benefit from a reduction in speed limit.

I would greatly appreciate a copy of the advice that the county solicitor provided in response to my Human Rights paper.

Response