After much pressure Dorset County Council has designed a process that will enable local communities to get 20mph speed limits where they want them.  Step 1 is to get a Prioritisation Rating based on such things as accidents in the last three years, the current speed of traffic, proximity to schools, hospitals, residential homes etc and the strength of community support.  Step 2 is for the local Community Speed Watch group to monitor the situation for twelve months and advise on whether a 20mph limit could work.  Step 3 is for a very small number of the highest scoring schemes to be funded by the County Council but others can be funded by the Town or Parish Council at a cost of about £20-30,000.  I feel that this review had produced a policy that is better than what I feared as it is based on a process that is logical and can be achieved but is less than I’d hoped as for most areas it will require the Parish Council to find quite a lot of money.

   Leave a comment