New transport minister Louise Haigh says schemes won’t need central government sign-off
The introduction of new road safety schemes, such as 20mph zones and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs), will be made by individual local councils, not imposed by central government, new transport secretary Louise Haigh has pledged.
Both schemes have generated widespread discourse over recent years since their introductions. But in response, the new transport minister told podcast Streets Ahead: “Local authorities will have my full support to roll out schemes.”
Haigh also said she wanted to move away from the previous government’s “culture wars”, where high-profile MPs, including former prime minister Rishi Sunak, publicly attacked the schemes, despite them originally being brought in by a Conservative government.
Sunak even went so far as to order a review into LTNs and promised to block councils from introducing the 20mph speed restrictions as part of a “pro-motorist” agenda.
“The vast majority of people in the country use their cars to get around and are dependent on cars,” Sunak said previously. “I just want to make sure people know that I’m on their side in supporting them to use their cars to do all the things that matter to them.”
However, that approach has left many local authorities “in limbo and paralysis”, Haigh claimed.
She said: “It’s really, really difficult for local authorities when they’ve not got that air cover from government. And not only did they not have the air cover, they had the government actively working against them saying: ‘No, you’re not allowed to roll out 20mph zones. No, you’re not allowed to roll out LTNs.’
“Those kinds of decisions should absolutely be made at a local level by communities and not dictated to or stoked up by the centre.”
She added: “It all has to be done with communities, absolutely, and the worst thing you can do is put the wrong schemes in because then it erodes that support and they can be unsafe in some circumstances.”
