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Latest News
Leicestershire County Council - Speed Surveys
Posted: Fri, 29 Oct 2021 10:52 by Katherine Clarke
Please see below for the outcome of the speed surveys recently conducted by Leicestershire County Council, the Parish Council will now consider the next course of action:
Thank you for your continued patience whilst we carried out additional surveys and analysed the results, to investigate the request for a 20mph speed limit in Swinford, I am pleased to advise that this is completed and the results can be found below. More »
From the onset, it is important we understand the guidance set out by the Department for Transport - Setting Local Speed Limits with regards to setting local speed limits. On this occasion, we shall focus solely on the requirements for the implementation of 20mph speed limits/zones.
The guidance set out by the DfT suggests that mean speed for a village/road that is being considered for a 20mph limit/zone should be at or below 24mph. 24mph is the suggested speed due to the fact it falls in the lower end of the 20's and therefore the implementation of a 20mph limit would be self-enforcing, i.e. without the need for any physical traffic calming measures.
Where the mean speeds are higher than 24mph, physical calming measures such as speed humps and chicanes would be required in order to control and maintain speeds. In order for a physical traffic calming feature to be allowed on the highway street lighting would be required. The requirements for the use and citing of such measures is set out in the same guidance.
In the case of Swinford, the speed surveys have shown that the mean speeds within the village are higher than those as set out by the DfT in order for a blanket 20mph speed limit scheme to be self-enforcing in Swinford. The speeds in the village were recorded as follows:
Kilworth Road, Swinford 30mph limit
May '21
|85th Percentile
|Mean
Both
|34.1
|28.4
SW Bound
|34.6
|28.9
NE Bound
|33.7
|27.9
Rugby Road, Swinford 30mph limit
May '21
|85th Percentile
|Mean
Both
|30.5
|24.0
SW Bound
|32.4
|26.5
NE Bound
|28.7
|22.6
Swinford Road, Swinford 30mph limit
May '21
|85th Percentile
|Mean
Both
|24.8
|20.2
S Bound
|24.3
|19.9
N Bound
|25.3
|20.4
North Street, Swinford 30mph limit
May '21
|85th Percentile
|Mean
Both
|21.2
|17.1
E Bound
|21.7
|17.5
W Bound
|20.2
|16.5
Therefor although the speeds on Swinford Road and North Street are supportive of a self enforcing scheme, in order to have a blanket speed limit of 20mph within Swinford, physical traffic calming measures are required. In this scenario the type of traffic calming required to reduce speeds would be speed tables or speed cushions at every 60-80m in addition physical measures require to be lit.
A very broad estimated based on previous schemes that we have implemented is approx. £250,000, this is based on each feature costing around £10,000 and the requirement to have them every 80M plus the costs for the additional lighting element estimated at £20-25,000 for the scheme which is a requirement for traffic calming. The County Council unfortunately does not have funding for these types of schemes as our limited resources are concentrated on the maintenance of the existing highway and essential safety schemes only. However as schemes such as these are permitted on the highway we do advise that if third party funding is available we can consider these further.
As evidenced above whilst a blanket 20mph limit is not feasible without physical features the compliance of the existing speed limits is very good. Additional soft measures could be used to influence the behaviour of motorists further, information on these can be found at https://leicestershirehighways.org.uk/ . Realistically we do not believe these would reduce the mean speeds enough to permit a self enforcing 20mph but could be beneficial to influence the motorists that are travelling in the high 20s or low 30s through Swinford. » Less
Casual Vacancy
Posted: Fri, 30 Jul 2021 10:15 by Katherine Clarke
Due to the resignation of Cllr Brian Clapham there is a casual vacancy on Swinford Parish Council, the Parish Council is now able to co-opt a councillor.
If you think you may be suitable for the role and are interested in finding out more information about what the Parish Council do and what being a Parish Councillor entails please contact the Parish Clerk.