500 signatures reached
To: North Yorkshire County Council
Petition for a maximum speed of 20mph on roads in south and west Harrogate to improve road safety
If this petition reaches 500 signatures or more, by people living or working in the Harrogate and Knaresborough parliamentary constituency area, it will be scheduled for a debate at the next meeting of the appropriate constituency committee.
Please sign this petition and if you would like to contact us please email us at: [email protected]
We are petitioning North Yorkshire County Council to deliver a maximum speed of 20mph across south and west Harrogate - covering Oatlands and parts of Pannal, Stray, Hookstone and St Georges areas in Harrogate (as outlined in red on the map).
We want safer streets for the children, young people and wider community when travelling to school and other locations in the area, from their home to their destination.
Road safety has been of particular concern from school leaders, parents and carers of school children and local residents in Oatlands and the wider Harrogate area for many years.
A maximum speed of 20mph is now urgently needed to reduce road collisions, improve safety, reduce air pollution and create a better environment for walking, wheeling, cycling and scooting to schools, shops, workplaces and local amenities.
Why is this important?
Recent road collisions in the area have resulted in the serious injury of schoolchildren and unless positive action is taken, our children, young people and other members of the community will continue to be put at risk.
Evidence shows approximately 16 children are killed or seriously injured in road crashes every week on their way to or from school (ref: Public Health England 2018).
Over 4,000 children and young people walk, cycle and travel by bus and car each day to the schools, colleges and early years settings in the area all of which are located on 30mph streets, including:
• Oatlands Infant School
• Oatlands Junior School
• St John Fisher’s Catholic High School
• St Aidan’s Church of England School
• Harrogate FE College
• Busy Bees nurseries at South Drive & Hornbeam Park.
A further 5,000 children travel in, to and around the Pannal Ash Area: to Harrogate Grammar School, Ashville College, Rossett School, Rossett Acre Primary and Western Primary and Busy Bees Nursery- Pannal Ash. This petition complements the similar initiative by Pannal Ash Safe Streets, also calling for 20mph.
Recent road collisions have resulted in the serious injury of three school children walking to and from school and highlight the urgency and importance of a maximum speed of 20mph. There was one on Beechwood Grove in January 2023 in which a child required hospitalisation and a second collision on Yew Tree Lane in February 2023 where two teenagers suffered severe and potentially life changing injuries.
Change is urgently needed. Without it the safety, health and well-being of the children, young people and the wider community remains at stake and road safety will continue as a barrier to walking and cycling in the area and across Harrogate.
Maximum speed limits of 20mph have been delivered in other rural and urban areas of Yorkshire and the UK including Calderdale, Cornwall, Oxford, Edinburgh, the Scottish Borders, London and in Wales (in September 2023). We want these improvements for south and west and other communities within Harrogate.
Evidence highlights the significant impacts a maximum speed of 20mph can deliver – the Edinburgh change to 20mph limits in 2021 reduced road traffic casualties by 40 per cent (ref: Jepson R et al. Public Heath Res 2022) and recent evidence from Transport for London (TfL) shows people hit by a vehicle at 20mph are around five times less likely to be killed than at 30mph (TfL February 2023). These show the significant positive impacts of a lower maximum speed of 20mph.
Urgent action is needed now to protect lives. A maximum speed of 20mph has the potential to make an enormous impact to our community.
Please sign this petition for North Yorkshire County Council to deliver a maximum speed of 20mph across south and west Harrogate.
References:
1. Public Health England. Reducing unintentional injuries on the roads among children and young people under 25 years. 2018.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/695781/Reducing_unintentional_injuries_on_the_roads_among_children_and_young_people_.pdf
2. Jepson R, Baker G, Cleland C, et al. Developing and implementing 20-mph speed limits in Edinburgh and Belfast: mixed-methods study. Public Health Res 2022;10 (published online Sep). https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/phr/XAZI9445#/abstract
3. TfL: https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2023/february/new-data-shows-significant-improvements-in-road-safety-in-london-since-introduction-of-20mph-speed-limits 13 February 2023
