The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Stephen Hammond)
I thank my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Stephen Phillips) for securing an important debate on speed limits, not only in Lincolnshire, but in rural areas more widely. My hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Guy Opperman) made a contribution that reiterated that road safety in rural areas is a key priority for many hon. Members, and it is a top priority for the Government and for me. Clearly, road deaths and injuries are not just statistics; they are tragedies for all those affected. Behind the statistics are men, women and children. Much of the harm and cost is avoidable, and those things are not the inevitable consequence of road transport.
Britain is a world leader in road safety. Although we can be rightly proud of that fact, there can never be any room for complacency. As we set out in the strategic framework for road safety, the focus is on increasing the range of educational options for drivers who make genuine mistakes, while improving enforcement against the most dangerous and deliberate offenders.
It is well known that a byword of this Government is our belief in localism. Therefore I believe that, wherever possible, local authorities should have the freedom to make their own decisions about road safety, according to their own local needs, and to develop local solutions. In many cases, part of ensuring road safety must involve the speed limits set in those areas.
I thought it would be useful to state at the outset the Government’s position and thinking on the setting and enforcing of speed limits. As my hon. and learned Friend said, national speed limits are clearly not appropriate for all roads. Traffic authorities set local speed limits where local needs and conditions demand a speed limit lower than the national speed limit. Speed limits need to be suitable for local conditions, and I hope that many in the House would recognise that councils are best placed to determine what those limits are, based on local knowledge and the views of the community, and having regard to guidance issued by the Department, and to the law and enforcement methods available to them.
As part of our campaign to keep improving road safety, we have already given local authorities the power to introduce 20 mph speed limits and 20 mph zones on their roads if they believe it appropriate to do so. My hon. Friend the Member for Hexham made the point about 20 mph speed limits around schools, and it is exactly this power that we would hope local authorities would use. The Department provides local authorities with guidance on setting local speed limits, including 20 mph speed limits, and the conditions in which they should be set, in order to ensure that they are set appropriately and consistently, while allowing the flexibility to deal with local needs and conditions. It is also worth remembering that speed limits are only one part of rural safety management; the nature and layout of the road, and the mix of traffic also need to be considered. To achieve a change in motorists’ behaviour and compliance with the local limits, supporting physical measures are often required, as is local publicity.
On enforcement, it is of course for the police and local authorities to decide whether to use speed cameras, and how they wish to operate them. However, the Government do not believe that cameras should be used as the default solution in reducing accidents, and nor should they be used as a way of raising revenue. Local organisations and local authorities should seek ways other than just cameras to improve safety on their roads.
As we explained in our strategic framework for road safety, local communities can directly influence the use of their roads, as my hon. and learned Friend said his community has been doing, by various methods, one of which is the community road watch scheme, whereby local volunteers work with the police to monitor local roads. They can often provide valuable data and suggestions as to local road safety. However, it must be for traffic authorities to set speed limits that strike a sensible balance between the needs of all road users.
My hon. and learned Friend mentioned the 40 mph zones. The Department particularly wanted to consider appropriate areas—outside villages and in some areas of natural beauty—for using 40 mph zones. The Department wrote to the County Surveyors Society traffic and safety group in 2009 offering funding for local authorities to look at having 40 mph zones with the speed limit painted on the carriageway, so that some of the road safety benefits could be introduced without the ugliness of repeater signs on poles by the roadside. However, it is a disappointment that, to date, no local authorities have taken advantage of that opportunity. There are some 40 mph zones in rural areas, but I hope that others will consider the benefits of improved signage and road safety when taking advantage of the scheme.
I hope that I have already made it clear that road safety is a key priority for the Government and for me personally and we continue to take steps to improve the safety of our roads. None the less, if we consider the differential impact of road accidents on rural and urban roads, we can see that some two thirds of fatal traffic accidents happened on rural roads. The Department’s analysis of collision and casualty data shows that in Great Britain in 2011 rural roads accounted for 66% of all road deaths and 82% of car occupant deaths, but under 45% of the distance travelled. It is clear that although we have seen an overall reduction in road deaths and an improvement in the road safety statistics, rural roads have proportionately suffered a major impact.
My hon. and learned Friend referred to the particular issue in Lincolnshire and I was disappointed to hear that there had been yet another accident in only the last week. Since 2008, the number of people seriously injured on rural roads has increased, bucking the general trend. As my hon. and learned Friend articulated well, local residents in the village of Fulbeck wish to see a lower speed limit. He was right to highlight his correspondence with my predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mike Penning), and I have read it through. It is clear that although the setting of local speed limits is primarily a matter for local authorities, and therefore an issue on which I am loth to and on which I would usually consider it inappropriate to intervene, I encourage local authorities to ensure that their speed limits are in line with the Department’s guidelines and are kept under review as circumstances change. The Government encourage local authorities to consider the introduction of more 20 mph limits and zones, particularly in built-up villages such as that described by my hon. and learned Friend. I look forward to discussing the issue with him when I visit his constituency later in the year.
My hon. and learned Friend referred to the Department’s guidelines to local authorities on speed limits. We have recently consulted on the revision and reissue of those guidelines on setting speed limits in urban and rural areas and we intend to publish the revised speed limit circular shortly. The guidelines should be used for setting all local speed limits on single and dual carriageway roads in urban and rural areas and aim to provide greater clarity to local authorities about where and how to set those limits. I hope they will find that helpful. The guidance should be the basis for assessing local speed limits and for developing route management strategies and the speed management strategies that can be used in local plans.
My hon. and learned Friend will be interested to note that the guidance will clearly show traffic authorities that they should keep their speed limits under review with changing circumstances and consider the introduction of more speed limits in urban areas, and primarily residential built-up village streets, to ensure greater safety for residents and users of the road. The Department would expect a 30 mph speed limit to be the norm in villages, but in many villages a 20 mph zone or limit might be more appropriate.
I note that in the correspondence between my hon. and learned Friend and my predecessor there was some dispute about what might or might not constitute a village or the middle of a village. The final decision on whether a settlement is a village for the purposes of setting a speed limit is a matter for local authorities, but my hon. and learned Friend will be interested to hear that we are offering guidance on what definition of a village should be used when a decision about appropriate speed limits is being made; it involves 20 or more houses on one or both sides of the road and a minimum length of 600 metres. If there are fewer than 20 houses we suggest that, when setting speed limits, traffic authorities should make special allowance for any other key buildings, such as a church, shop or school.
We are also developing a web-based tool, which will allow local authorities to assess the full costs and benefits of any proposed scheme and the speed limits most suitable for local conditions. We hope that all local authorities will take advantage of the scheme when reviewing their local speed limits.
As I have already stressed, the Government believe that wherever possible local authorities should have the freedom to make their own decisions so that they develop solutions most appropriate for their local needs. The Government do not intend to make our guidance on setting speed limits mandatory. However, we expect local authorities to use and follow the guidance in determining the circumstances for setting local speed limits. I hope that Lincolnshire county council, as it has suggested in correspondence to one of my hon. and learned Friend’s constituents, will use the guidance, keep speed limits under review and be able to access the new tool.
In closing, I should say that I will be delighted to accept my hon. and learned Friend’s kind invitation to both Fulbeck and West Willoughby; I understand that my officials and his office are already corresponding about a date for that. I look forward to seeing the problems that he has talked about tonight at first hand. I hope that representatives of Lincolnshire county council will have listened to his contribution and those of his constituents and that by the time I reach Fulbeck, the problem will have been solved.
Question put and agreed to.