Elected Member Briefing - Local roll-out of 20mph national strategy

Perth and Kinross Council is working with Transport Scotland and other local authorities to implement a new 20mph national strategy. This will see 20mph being introduced as the default speed limit on all unrestricted roads in urban areas by the end of 2025. The strategy is being introduced as a road safety measure which will reduce the risk of conflict between different types of road users and help to reduce road casualties. Further details of the national strategy are available at the Transport Scotland website.

Transport Scotland require each speed limit to be put in place via a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order (TTRO) as the project is being undertaken as a trial. The temporary limits, which can be in place for up to 18 months, will be made permanent if the trial is successful.

The decision to install 20mph on A and B Class roads in urban areas has been deferred to local authorities. All urban streets in Perth and Kinross have been assessed and appropriate speed limits identified and agreed with elected members.

The assessment has also identified locations for new 30mph and 40mph limits and where existing 30mph and 40mph limits should be amended, as result of introducing the lower speed limit.

Briefing Information

Some 20mph speed limits in town centres or around schools are historic. Other were installed during the early stages of the Covid pandemic to facilitate increased pedestrian activity. These have all been reviewed and some of them have been amended or extended. All part-time school 20mph limits within urban areas will be incorporated into the new full-time limits and the flashing beacon signs adjusted.

Some of the key transport routes into our larger settlements will remain 30mph on the periphery of the towns but lowered to 20mph in the town centres. Roads on A and B Class roads with limited buildings along them, or where the housing is restricted to one side, will retain the current 30mph limit. This position will be reviewed if travel patterns change or there is further development. The aim of introducing the strategy nationally is to provide consistency for urban communities across Scotland.

The proposal across the Perth and Kinross Council area covers:

105 new 20mph limits
55 new or changes to 30mph limits
20 new or changes to 40mph limits

Speed monitoring will take place at selected sites representing different types of road environments, from rural hamlets and villages that straddle A Class roads to residential districts and arterial routes in larger towns. It is anticipated that most 20mph limits will remain in place, but the speed data will help to identify levels of driver compliance and to determine where physical speed reduction measures may be required, and these will be installed where appropriate and resources allow. Enforcement of speed limits remains with Police Scotland.

Initially, all the new 20mph limits are being introduced purely using road signs at the start and end of each speed limit, as well as reminder signs within the speed limit area to highlight the change to what has been the default speed limit in urban areas for many years. Funding has been offered by Transport Scotland to offset some of the costs of manufacture and installation of the speed limit signs. Village nameplate signs and countdown markers will also be installed or upgraded where appropriate.

Progress

Introduction of the new speed limits is being carried out in geographic clusters, with the first speed limit signs already installed in Crieff and Comrie on the A85 corridor (linked in with work being carried out by Transport Scotland); and in Abernyte, Burrelton/Woodside, Coupar Angus, Guildtown, Meigle and Scone as part of the Cross Tay Link Road mitigation measures project. The CTLR-related works are (as of 6 May) largely complete.

The next phase covers Braco, Greenloaning and Muthill in Ward 7 following site meetings with local Community Councils and is now underway, with works expected to be completed by the end of June 2025.

Timing of further phases of works to introduce the new speed limits will be confirmed in due course.

Communications

Raising awareness of the change in speed limits will be particularly important in heavily used areas such as town centres and around schools where there is greater activity and higher numbers of vulnerable road users.

Information will be shared through internal communications, news releases to local media, social media and the Council website.