Harrogate road campaigners take plea to ‘invest £1million to make 20mph normal’ to steps of county hall

After being bolstered by a recent vote by county councillors on the Harrogate and Knaresborough Area constituency Committee supporting a new 20mph speed limit to be normal in their area, 20s Plenty campaigners are set to present a giant card at county headquarters at Northallerton next Monday, November 7.

But the presentation will not involve Christmas greetings.

Instead, the message calls on North Yorkshire County Council “to invest £1million in its 2023-24 budget to make 20mph normal”.

Malcolm Margolis, Harrogate cycling advocate and 20s Plenty road safety campaigner, said the case for 20mph ticked all the boxes.

"20mph roads are quieter, save money, reduce collisions, and are hugely popular and, most importantly, save lives, ” said Mr Margolis.

“20mph has been shown in academic research to significantly reduce both carbon emissions and fuel consumption in built-up areas.

"There is reduced need for acceleration, so saving people money and helping the planet, too.

"It also makes it safer for people to walk and cycle, improving their health and wellbeing.

20s Plenty campaigners claim local councils representing a total of 128 towns and parishes right across North Yorkshire have already voted for default 20mph and that it’s time the county council made the speed limit universal.

And they argue that normalising 20mph need not be expensive.

Campaigners point to Calderdale in West Yorkshire which introduced a 20mph scheme which came in at under £5 per head of population to pay for replacement signage and community engagement.

The end result, they add, was 30-40% fewer casualties on the road.

Ian Conlan of 20s Plenty for North Yorkshire said: "The highway authority needs to meet the needs of walkers and cyclists and not just drivers to achieve its targets for Active Travel, net zero carbon emissions and reducing collisions.

"Both Active Travel England and developer funding can be used for 20mph zones, meaning any impact on the county council’s health and highway budgets would be tiny compared to overall budgets.”