Hackney Council sets 20mph speed limit for residential roads

Twenty's plenty: Green party London Assembly Member Jenny Jones with Green colleagues Caroline Allen and Anna Hughes. Photograph: Green party

All residential roads in Hackney are to be designated with a speed limit of just 20 miles per hour.

At a council meeting last month (25 January), Cllr Feryal Demirci, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, confirmed that the changes necessary to put this policy into practice would be completed within the next two months.

“The Council is on schedule to complete works to support this scheme by the end of the current financial year i.e. by 31st March 2012,” said Ms Demirci.

The policy was adopted following a motion proposed by former Green councillor Mischa Borris in 2008.

Green party spokesperson Anna Hughes said: “This is exciting news for Hackney residents who can look forward to safer, quieter and less polluted streets, which will encourage more walking and cycling. This is great for the community and our health.”

Hackney is the second London borough after Islington to introduce a policy of 20mph on residential roads.

Islington has gone further than Hackney, however: the neighbouring borough voted recently to implement 20mph limits on all main roads under council control.

A reduction in speed limits has be shown to result in far fewer road deaths and serious injuries; in Hull, there was a 90 per cent reduction of in the number of serious or fatal injury collisions following a dramatic increase in the proportion of 20mph roads.