Campaign for 20mph limit in Chichester gathers pace

A campaign to help make Chichester’s roads safer is gathering pace.

The 20’s Plenty campaign, which aims to reduce the speed on residential roads in Chichester from 30mph to 20mph, has been given the backing of Chichester City Council.

The city council’s community affairs committee heard from campaign leader Sarah Sharp on the importance of the scheme for people across the city.

The committee decided in favour of bringing the topic to the council’s next full council meeting and campaigners are hoping the issue will be debated.

The issue of signs which would be needed if the scheme was adopted were raised by the committee as concerns have been expressed about Chichester having too many signs. Questions were also asked about costs of the scheme.

Mrs Sharp said it was an important step in the life of the campaign and said reducing the speed limit would bring numerous benefits to the city both in terms of savings as well as helping people to lead a more healthy lifestyle.

“The costs of such a scheme, which was £475,000 in the case of 1,200 streets in Portsmouth, must be seen in relation to the cost of one death, which is £2m, and serious injuries which cost £218,000 that we, as a society, are already bearing,” she said.

“Warrington, which has a scheme, has seen an 800 per cent return on their investment in one year.

“The scheme cost £100,000 to put in but in one year they have saved £800,000 on saved lives and casualties.

“Surely we need to look at the bigger picture. Highways cannot exist in isolation.

“The default speed limit of 30mph, instituted in 1934, is costing our society too much in terms of monetary costs and lack of active travel which other budgets have to pay for.

“It is estimated 57,000 deaths a year are associated with lack of physical activity.”

Next March 20’s Plenty in Chichester will hold a public meeting where residents across the area will be able to find out more about the campaign and ask questions.

Mrs Sharp said: “20’s Plenty is social engineering, not highways engineering, and is about making the roads safer for everyone.”

People are being asked to sign the 20’s Plenty petition at the campaign’s own website www.20splentyforchichester.moonfruit.com