The Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh MP, has said that traffic calming and safety measures, like 20mph or a low traffic neighbourhood (LTN), should be decided at the local level through engagement with local communities. 

CIHT welcomes the Secretary’s vision for empowering local decisions around the use and implementations of 20mph areas and LTNs.

Louise Haigh MP, in an interview with the Streets Ahead Podcast said: 

Those kinds of decisions should absolutely be made at a local level by communities and not dictated to or stoked up by the centre

We are pleased to see the Transport Secretary demonstrate the leadership that CIHT have called for in speed management and safety measures. 

In our latest Policy Briefing “Speed management: a need for greater consistency” we called for the right speed in the right place, meaning that speed limits should be set locally to reflect:

• the type of infrastructure, mixed modes of transport used on roads, and traffic volumes;
• the function of a road to align the efficient movement of goods and people with the benefits and quality of places;
• the ability of drivers to intuitively adapt their driving according to varying weather and traffic volumes and respect the limits set.

 You can find the full Policy Briefing here. 

While pledging her support for local authorities to roll out schemes, the Transport Secretary noted:

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.

Haigh also emphasized the government’s commitment to promote active travel: 

We're certainly not shying away from the target of getting 50% short journeys walking and cycling and that will have to be delivered by local authorities, so anybody who wants to do that work, they'll have the Department for Transport's full backing

CIHT fully supports the government’s active travel target, and we offer our help to make sure that schemes like 20mph and LTNs are designed to allow accessibility for all. 

As we stated in our response to the LTNs Guidance Draft consultation in May 2024:

“CIHT believes that where LTNs provide an appropriate solution to local needs, they offer important benefits such as improved air quality, traffic reduction and public accessibility as well as supporting wider national objectives of decarbonisation and modal shift targets” 

CIHT’s echoes the Transport Secretary message that to the benefits of LTNs can be achieved by an inclusive approach involving local communities and in our response to the LTNs Guidance Draft Consultation said: 

"CIHT supports the guidance on ‘Getting community support,’ particularly the principle of ensuring engagement is representative and inclusive of all the community."

You can find the full response to the LTNs Guidance Draft Consultation here. 

CIHT is looking forward to working with the government to enable the delivery of better transport networks, that work for all. 

Further resources 

Creating a public realm for all | CIHT

Let's Talk Transport - Low Traffic Neighbourhoods | CIHT

A transport Network fit for all our purposes