A 20MPH speed limit could be introduced on all residential roads in Weymouth in a bid to slash accident numbers, under a new motion proposed by Weymouth Town Council, writes Michael Taylor.

A public consultation will now be launched into the proposals, which councillors hope would reduce crashes, curb air and noise pollution and encourage more people to walk and cycle.

Councillors met virtually on Wednesday to discuss the motion, which would see 20mph speed limits or 20mph zones introduced on all residential roads in the area where appropriate.

They unanimously agreed to undertake a public consultation and feasibility study, although concerns were raised about how the speed limits could be enforced and how taxi drivers would react to the proposals.

Councillor Gill Taylor said there was cross party support for the public consultation and said there will not likely be a “big bang approach” where the changes would not be rolled out at the same time. Councillor Kevin Brooks, who represents the Upwey and Broadwey area, said it was key that the problematic areas of the town are prioritised.

He said: “My concern is that if we don’t look at areas in the town that really need a 20mph speed limit based on safety and accidents and particularly areas used as shortcuts and rat tuns, I think we may just put forward a very worthy, and on the face of it useful, proposals to the council only for them to sort of not proceed with it because there’s too much within it.

“I think it needs to be slimmed down a little bit based on the most needy areas.” Jan Bergman said there were major benefits from a lowered speed limit and cited a study conducted by University of the West of England and Public Health Bristol where a 20mph zone trial was introduced in an area of Bristol.

Statistics showed that there was an estimated 4.53 per cent reduction in fatal collisions, 11.3 per cent in collisions with serious injuries and a reduction in accidents.

Councillor Tony Ferrari supported the motion but said he was slightly concerned that the plans could see some objections from taxi and delivery drivers.

He said: “We are asking for something very big here and very big, by definition, is difficult to do. “It will crystallise all our opposition across all of town to the schemes so all of the taxi drivers and Amazon drivers who aren’t going to earn as much money because they can’t drive as quickly will all object to that.

“This isn’t to say that we don’t want 20mph limits because we do, but I think we should be picking the really high priority areas like around schools, the important places because they would be much easier to achieve and nobody would disagree with those, but a lot of people will disagree with the whole of town.

“I think we may be putting back any progress for trying to get perfect progress.”

Alex Fuhrmann welcomed the motion and added the town council needs to be more ambitious and look across the town.

He said: “I think this is a great motion and as someone who has put 35 ‘20’s plenty’ signs around my ward, it is by far the most popular idea and issue that we are taking on. “Residents are behind this and if we’re doing it, we have to do it properly.” Councillor Luke Wakeling suggested that the consultation should allow residents to report where the problems are and allow councillors to investigate any speed hotspots.