No changes planned for 20mph in Newtown

Ahead of the implementation of the Wales wide 20mph speed limit in built up areas on September 17 – tweaks are set to be made to the speed limits of some Powys roads, however none of these are in Newtown.

In July 2022 the Welsh Government passed legislation which will see the speed limit on residential, built-up streets drop from 30mph to 20mph throughout Wales.

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The Welsh Government has said that having a 20mph default speed limit is expected to result in 40 per cent fewer road collisions.

This in turn would save up to 10 lives and stop up to 2,000 people being injured every year.

It was also recognised by the Welsh Government that not all current restricted roads should become 20mph.

Earlier this year the government asked each highway authority to consider if and where exceptions should be made and for these traffic orders to also be made on September 17 in conjunction with the default 20mph order.

A consultation took place from June 30 to July 21 which asked for Powys residents views on roads that will be the “exception” to the 20mph traffic orders.

Nearly 250 stretches of road in the county were included in the consultation.

In total 28 objections were made.

The report explains that two objections were received for the proposal to remove the restricted road designation of a small section of the B4520 in Pwllgloyw near Brecon.

A further 26 objections were received for 10 separate areas in Powys that were proposed to be keep the 30mph limit.

This resulted in recommendations for three of the objections to be supported, one partially supported but the rest rejected.

The report said that a further 29 general comments were received.

These varied from objecting to the Welsh Government’s 20mph limit to asking for other roads to be brought into the consultation.

The council’s traffic and travel manager Tony Caine said: “Those have been responded to directly and the recipient advised they have not been taken as objections thus not included within this process.”

On the dozen stretches of road that objections were made on – highways officers recommend:

1 – Pwllgloyw (near Brecon) – to overrule the objections and implement the
proposed revocation of restricted road status.

2 – Aberbran (near Brecon) – to sustain the objection and abandon the
proposed exception at this location.

3 – Churchstoke – to overrule the objections and implement the 30mph speed limit as proposed.

4 – Craig-y-Nos (near Ystradgynlais) – to overrule the objection and implement the 30mph speed limit as proposed.

5 – Llangedwyn – to overrule the objection and implement the 30mph speed limit as proposed.

6 – Llangorse – to overrule the objection and implement the 30mph speed limit as proposed.

7 – Llangorse and Llanfihangel Tal-y-Llyn – to overrule the objection and implement the 30mph speed limits as proposed.

8 – Llangynidr east side – to partially sustain the objections relating to the eastern side of the B4558 and shorten the exception to cover the first
148m of the current 30mph limit only

9 – Llangynidr west side – to sustain the objection and abandon the proposed
exception at this location.

10 – Llansilin – to sustain the objection and abandon the proposed exception.

11 – Penybont Llanerch Emrys – to overrule the objections and implement the 30mph speed limit as proposed.

12 – Penybontfawr – to sustain the objection and abandon the proposed exception.

Under the council rules on delegated decisions by a cabinet member, the decision will not come into force for five clear days from September 7.

This is so that time is allowed for the decision to be called in for scrutiny by councillors.