Local MS for Monmouth, Peter Fox, has expressed his concern at a recent decision by Monmouthshire County Council to not publish the responses to a consultation seeking feedback on the 20mph limits throughout the county.
At a recent meeting, a motion was put forward asking the administration to “publish the redacted consultation responses in full”, but this was defeated following a casting vote by the council chairman, after a tied vote.
During the meeting, it was noted that of the 1496 responses received, that 119 were neutral, 498 supported retaining the speed limit, and 1118 wanted to see limits restored to 30mph. This is following the outcome of the review that highlighted 143 roads where it was felt a return to the 30mph limit was more appropriate, but out of these roads, only 4 were chosen to be re-assessed, with no limits at all being reverted.
Peter Fox, Member of the Senedd for Monmouth, and Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Transport & Rural Affairs, has said:
“It is disappointing to see that Monmouthshire County Council will not publish the results of the consultation, especially following the small number of roads that were chosen to be reviewed in the first place.”
“Releasing the results is not just in the interests of transparency, but democracy. Local Councillors deserve to know which areas were raised in the responses, otherwise they are being kept in the dark.”
“We know that only 4 of the 143 roads that were flagged were chosen to be reviewed, which is discouraging, but we now know that 75% of respondents wanted to see limits restored. They have effectively been brushed off by the local authority.”
“I, and my group, have been clear that they would reverse the 20mph default back to 30mph and would work with local authorities and the public to retain lower limits where needed, we must have a more common-sense approach to this policy”
