Yesterday, the new Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Transport announced that he is open to making changes to the Welsh Government’s 20mph blanket policy and is rowing back by asking councils in Wales to exempt roads from this blanket 20mph speed limit.
Wrexham’s Member of Parliament has welcomed the news that the Welsh Government has finally admitted that the 20mph policy is not working. However, Ms Atherton wants the Welsh Government to go further by repealing the policy in its entirety.
The latest update to this ‘saga’ is that the Welsh Government is encouraging residents, emergency services, bus drivers and vulnerable people to contact Wrexham Council to suggest roads that should be exempt. From September, councils across Wales will have the authority to reinstate 30mph on certain roads.
Ms Atherton is making enquiries with Wrexham Council and will highlight their guidance when it is finalised.
Wrexham’s MP has actively opposed the policy even before its passage through the Senedd. Ms Atherton has engaged with many constituents regarding the new default speed limit. On top of this, she fronted a rally against the 20mph policy in Gwersyllt back in October 2023, she has been running a 20mph survey on her website to gauge the views of her constituents and has written to Wrexham Council and the Welsh Government on numerous occasions.
In addition, Ms Atherton urged both of the candidates running to become Wales’ new First Minister to repeal the 20mph policy in January 2024 and repeated this to the new First Minister in March 2024.
This policy has cost at least £32milion and is forecasted to cost the Welsh economy more than £4.5billion.
The strength of feeling across Wales has been reflected with a petition to the Senedd ‘to rescind and remove the disastrous 20mph law’ securing over 468,000 signatures. This is the largest petition in Wales’ history. The Welsh Government is still yet to decide a date for the petition to be debated in the Senedd.
Sarah Atherton MP commented:
“The Welsh Government has finally admitted that their 20mph policy is not working. Whilst I appreciate the new Transport Cabinet Secretary’s effort to hear from Wrexham’s drivers, this is a dereliction of duty for the Welsh Government to pass responsibility for this disastrous policy and road exemptions onto Wrexham Council.
Let’s be clear: Welsh Labour may claim to listen, but 20mph remains the default speed limit. Nothing has changed and it will be months before roads in Wrexham, if any, become exempt.
Rather than making Wrexham Council deal with the aftermath of Labour’s anti-motorist policy, the blanket policy should be scrapped in its entirety. I will continue to call on the Welsh Government to listen to my constituents and residents across Wales more widely and commit to repealing the 20mph default speed limit.”