20mph speed limit outside schools

14 more roads Solihull roads to have 20mph speed limit installed

Tom Cramp - Local Democracy Reporter | Friday 15th July 2022 12:04pm

A number of roads in Solihull that pass by schools will have 20mph speed limits installed, the council has announced. A total of 14 roads will have the new limit put in place as the council hopes it will encourage behavioural changes for drivers.

A 2021 review of speed limits in the borough highlighted the need for 20mph speed limits outside schools. Currently, 35 out of Solihull’s 84 schools already have speed limits in place on nearby roads.

At a council meeting on Tuesday (July 12), councillors agreed to place 20mph speed limits outside ten more schools during 2022/23. The limits will be in place 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

The schools and roads affected are as follows:

• Blossomfield Infant and Nursery School – Lawnswood Avenue, Newnham Rise, and Eastcote Close
• St Patrick’s C of E Primary Academy – Salter Street
• Hockley Heath Academy – School Road
• Bentley Heath C of E Junior and Infant School – Widney Road and Widney Close
• St George and St Teresa RC Junior and Infant School – Mill Lane and Nuthurst Grove
• Castle Bromwich Infant School – Hurst Lane North and Green Lane
• Castle Bromwich Junior School – Hurst Lane North
• Greswold Primary School – Buryfield Road
• Sharmans Cross Junior School – Sharmans Cross Road
• Peterbrook Primary School – High Street

The 20mph limit has not always proved popular with drivers. In 2021 when 27 roads were earmarked for speed restrictions, some took to the internet to express their concerns.

One person wrote: “It’s impossible to drive at more than 20mph when the roads are already clogged with parents in 4×4’s dropping off or picking up their kids. At any other time, blanket 20mph limits mean cars in lower gears and therefore more pollution.”

Another agreed and said: “It’s pointless. Hardly anyone observes the speed limits.” Very few comments were in support of the scheme, with another saying: “Perhaps sending traffic wardens to ticket the parents who constantly park on double yellows blocking driveways etc would be more effective.”

But Cllr Ken Hawkins, cabinet member for environment and infrastructure, says the limits do serve an important purpose. He said: “There is such a wealth of evidence across the country showing that the 20mph speed limits actually do work.

“Speed kills, and just because the limit says 30mph or 40mph, there are a lot of circumstances, whether it’s weather or the number of people on the road at that time, that makes it dangerous to travel at 30mph or 40mph. I’m really impressed with what we’ve done already and that behavioural change is so important.” 

The 14 roads listed above will begin to see the limits imposed within 12-14 weeks. Solihull council hopes that all 84 schools in the borough will eventually have 20mph speed limits imposed on the roads nearby, but did offer a time frame for that. 

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