Labour councils have been found to be issuing blank cheques to roll out more 20mph zones as well as active travel routes across thousands of roads, impacting motorists across the country.
It comes after a Freedom of Information request detailed how local communities and businesses have been introducing more Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) schemes and lower speed limits despite opposition from motorists and other political parties.
The new approach by the Labour Government challenges the rulings which were in place under the previous Conservative Government, which looked to review LTNs after it found growing concern about the schemes getting greenlit despite “concerted opposition” from residents and businesses.
To combat this, in March 2024, the Department for Transport published statutory guidance on how to prevent LTNs being imposed without clear local backing.
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Labour has failed to implement the guidance on LTNs and speed limits which were introduced by the Conservatives
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The guidance detailed: “Councils should continue to regularly review Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, ensuring they keep meeting their objectives, aren’t adversely affecting other areas, and are locally supported.
“This guidance makes clear our expectations, and I will carefully consider how councils follow it, alongside other appropriate factors, when looking at funding decisions.”
However, the FOI found that Labour ministers failed to implement the guidance, instead admitting that it remains in draft form. “The draft guidance on Low traffic neighbourhoods was never brought into force… Due to the general election, further work on it was put on hold,” a spokesperson shared.
Due to the lack of guidance, Labour and Liberal Democrat-run councils have been able to press ahead with widespread 20mph speed limits, with drivers left paying the price.
The report revealed that Labour-run councils in Lewisham and Islington have both imposed blanket 20mph speed limits across all roads in their jurisdictions without opposition.
Meanwhile, Enfield Council, which has been Labour-run since 2010, has extended 20mph limits to an additional 508 roads, while Barnet Council, which came under Labour control in 2022, has lowered the speed limit on a further 75 roads.
Liberal Democrat-led councils have also made similar moves with Richmond Council, imposing 20mph speed limits on almost every road in the borough.
Similarly, Kingston Council, which has also been under Lib Dem control since 2018, has extended these limits to an additional 19 roads.
The biggest example of new 20mph limits has been seen across Wales, which converted thousands of roads across the country to lower speeds while under Labour control in September 2023.
Gareth Bacon MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, told GB News: “Labour have handed their town hall allies a blank cheque to impose Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and speed restrictions wherever they like, with no regard for local residents or business.
“While Labour introduce ever more anti-driver schemes, it’s ordinary motorists paying the price for Labour’s ideological policies.”
He claimed that, unlike Labour and the Lib Dems, the Conservatives “see your car not as the problem, but as a freedom worth protecting, whether it’s the school run, the work commute, or the Easter Sunday visit to your family”.
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The Conservatives took aim at Low Traffic Neighbourhoods introduced by Labour councils
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He added: “Labour’s short-sighted and totally destructive war on the motorist has gone too far.”
The guidance from last year also detailed how the Conservative Government hoped to “remove annoyances that irritate many drivers and get in their way” as well as reforming driving penalties and restrictions to be “fair, transparent and limited to where there is a legitimate road safety case”.
GB News has contacted the Department for Transport for a comment.