It is hoped the new speed limit will warn drivers to be careful
A new 20mph zone in Cottenham will ‘set a tone’ and remind drivers they need to be careful when travelling through the village, a councillor has said. Plans to introduce the lower speed limits across the village have been approved by Cambridgeshire County Council, despite backlash from some in the area with 156 objections being formerly lodged.
The village-wide 20mph zone was proposed by the county council in the hope of reducing traffic speeds in order to “create a safer environment for all road users”. A county council report said the character of most roads included in the scheme should make the lower speed limit “largely self-enforcing”.
However, buffer areas were also proposed to try and reduce the speed of vehicles heading into the village, with a 30mph speed limit proposed on Twenty Pence Road, and a 40mph buffer zone proposed on Broad Land and Long Drove. Officers told councillors at a highways and transport committee meeting this week (January 20) that it is estimated the project will cost around £24,000.
The proposed 20mph zone has divided views of many in the area. A consultation held by Cottenham Parish Council saw 217 people out of 327 respondents say they supported the implementation of a 20mph scheme in the village.
However, a statutory consultation conducted by the county council received 156 objections to the plans, with 33 partial objections, 93 supportive comments, 20 partially supportive responses, and one neutral response.
Concerns drivers will not follow lower speed limit
Objectors raised concerns that dropping the speed limits to 20mph could “increase driver frustration and result in the reckless overtaking that occurs frequently in neighbouring Histon”. Council officers said the lower speed limit could result in an increase of overtaking, but claimed this should reduce over time as drivers get used to the lower limits.
They added that “unsafe movements” happen on a “relatively small number of vehicle journeys” and said this would “not diminish the safety benefits gained from the majority of drivers adhering to the limit”.
Concerns were also raised that people who currently speed through the village will “not care” if the speed limit is lowered. Officers said they accepted that some drivers will “disregard” the 20mph speed limit, but said it is expected that a majority of drivers will comply, which would improve road safety.
They added that physical measures to slow drivers down can be looked at if speeding remains an issue. Some objectors also argued that the money proposed to be spent on the 20mph zone should be put towards other things that the village “desperately needs”, including the suggestion of improving the state of some of the roads.
Officers said the funding for the 20mph projects comes from a ring-fenced budget, adding that road maintenance has its own ring-fenced budget.
’20mph zone will preserve the village as a safe place’
Those in support of the plans said they believed lowering the speed limits to 20mph would “help to preserve the village as a safe and pleasant place to walk, cycle, shop, and participate in community life”. One supporter said they regularly cycle through the village and had “often experienced dangerous or disturbing traffic behaviour”.
They added that introducing 20mph speed limits would be a “very positive step towards making the village more cycle friendly”. Some supporters also said other areas where 20mph zones had already been introduced had seen “huge positive impacts”, including safer roads and reduced emissions.
They argued that there was “no reason not to bring all of these great benefits to Cottenham”. A majority of councillors who considered the plans agreed to back the introduction of a 20mph zone in Cottenham. Councillor Anna Bradnam ( Liberal Democrat ) said she believed that people would comply with the lower speed limits.
She said: “You will always get people who over run the speed limit, but broadly speaking a zone of 20mph will encourage people to be aware this is an area that we want you to consider is a residential area where you need to be careful, where there might be children coming out from in between cars and such like.
“It sets a tone, it sets an atmosphere, it sets expectations of drivers when they go through residential areas like this. I think it absolutely makes sense to do it for the whole area rather than changing speed limits here and there.”
Councillor Rory Clark (Liberal Democrat) said he believed it was important the county council made improvements where it could and said he thought the plans were “sensible” and offered “a lot of deliverable benefits”.
Councillor Alex Bulat ( Labour ) said the main issue she had when considering the proposal was how confident the authority was that the lower speed limits would be self enforcing, as she said police did not have the resources to do more enforcement in the area.
Officers highlighted that Cottenham already has some traffic calming measures in place to slow drivers down, particularly in the south of the village. They said the village is one of the areas that is “more suited” to a 20mph zone, but added that they could explore installing further measures in the future, if they believe they are needed to help enforce the speed limit.
’30mph speed limits have worked for decades’
However, some councillors said they had concerns about the proposals. Councillor Colin Galbraith ( Reform UK ) highlighted that more people had objected to the plans than supported the changes in the county council consultation.
He also argued that a lorry travelling at 20mph through the village would still be dangerous to cyclists and pedestrians. He said: “30mph limits have worked for decades, I do not see where this scheme will bring any possible improvement to the village; the cost £24,000 could be used better elsewhere.”
Councillor Mark Goldsack ( Conservative ) raised concerns about the number of people who responded to the consultations, which he said was only a small percentage of the total number of people in the village. He said they needed to reach more people when consulting on changes like this.
He said: “We have got a flawed process. I was involved in my ward of Soham and North Isleham, we had a similar exercise, but turnout was so poor we said ‘go away and think again’, as there were not enough people to support it.”
Cllr Goldsack added that he supported 20mph speed limits around schools, care homes, and main areas of pedestrianisation, but said blanket 20mph zones were “not the answer”. In the vote 12 councillors voted to approve the 20mph zone and three voted against.
