Calls to scrap plans for grid road speed limits

A businesswoman who moved to a city because of its grid roads has called on the council to scrap plans to introduce speed restrictions.

Milton Keynes has 21 interconnected dual and single carriageway routes but there are proposals to reduce the national speed limit to 40mph and 50mph in some sections.

Kerrie Bradburn, cabinet member for highways and transport on Milton Keynes Council, said the plans were "targeted proposals for five locations where there have been 47 recorded injury collisions in five years, including eight serious injury collisions".

But property investor Sophie Dand said: "We are really satisfied with the convenience the grid system brings. Any changes would be unnecessary."

When Milton Keynes was built in the 1960s, it was designed around a grid road system aimed at keeping traffic moving efficiently and reducing congestion.

The council, which is run by the Liberal Democrats in a Progressive Partnership with Labour, is consulting until 11 June on changing parts of the H4 (Dansteed Way) and a section of both the H7 (Chaffron Way) and H5 (Portway) to 40mph from 60mph on a single lane carriageway.

The authority is also considering reducing speeds to 50mph from 70mph on a dual carriageway section of the V6 (Grafton Street), but Bradburn said there were no plans to reduce speeds across the whole grid road network.

Bradburn said: "This is a consultation and no final decision has been made and I have asked for evidence behind the proposals to be made clearer for residents, and all consultation responses must be properly considered."

But Dand was concerned her cross-city journey to get to work or see friends would become slower as a result.

She said: "Something that's really attractive about living here is the ability to get across the city in 15 minutes at any time of day as there's never any traffic jams, and I'm able to drive my vehicle efficiently because I'm able to maintain speeds of 50 to 60mph.

"I have got a community of friends and colleagues in Milton Keynes and the consensus is we feel really safe on the roads and we are really satisfied with the convenience the grid system brings so any changes would just be unnecessary."

Conservative group leader Shazna Muzammil, who is campaigning against the changes, said: "Nobody's arguing against safer roads but road safety is a lot more than simply reducing speed limits.

"We've recently seen a coroner's report raising concerns about street lighting failures in Milton Keynes and residents regularly contact us about potholes, faded road markings, blocked drains on the roads and overgrown vegetation affecting visibility.

"Before we fundamentally change the way grid roads operate, many residents are asking us whether we should first focus on getting the basics right."

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