Birmingham has hatched plans to become England’s first 20mph city in a move criticised as “anti-motorist” by opponents.
The city’s council, led by a coalition of Liberal Democrats, Greens and independents, has pushed for all roads classified below A-roads to become 20mph zones.
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The policy, outlined in the council’s updated local plan last week, said it would promote walking and cycling.
“Active travel – walking and cycling – will become how most people get around their locality most of the time,” the policy plan reads.
“Cars will no longer dominate street life around homes and schools.”
The city will also change how road space is allocated to “support the delivery of a public transport system fit for a global city”, the plan added.
A similar policy was passed throughout Wales in 2023 under Labour, sparking years of furious backlash ever since.
Ministers have said 100 fewer people were killed or seriously injured on 20 and 30mph roads during the year after the lower limit was introduced.
But backlash to the policy has resulted in several councils in Wales U-turning to reintroduce the 30mph limit.
Shadow Transport Secretary Richard Holden said left-wing councils had turned 20mph into the “national speed of bureaucracy”.
And Welsh Shadow Transport Secretary Peter Dox said the lower speed limit had “created confusion and frustration for drivers”.
Mat MacDonald, Birmingham’s Road Safety Commissioner, has defended the change as a “life-saving measure”.
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“Anyone who opposes these measures has to come up with a set of reasons, advantages, and benefits that eclipse the value of the human lives that will be saved by this,” he told the BBC.
But the leader of Birmingham’s opposition, Reform UK’s Jex Parkin, has hit out at the council for making residents’ lives more frustrating.
He said: “This is another anti-motorist policy from a council that seems determined to make getting around Birmingham harder.
“People already have enough congestion, restrictions and disruption to deal with without another blanket measure being imposed on them.”
The Tories have also criticised blanket 20mph policies, vowing to only use the lower speed limit “when necessary” as part of its plan for drivers.
Birmingham City Council said: “Evidence from around the world on slower speed limits is very clear: it reduces collisions, saves lives and reduces injuries – so our message is simple: slower is safer.
“Slower speeds are less intimidating towards those who walk or cycle, activities that we need to encourage more of if we are to reduce the number of harmful emissions and traffic levels in the city.”
The council added that the city’s 20mph rollout had so far been done on a “targeted basis in response to local road safety concerns or near to schools”.
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