Rishi Sunak is planning to restrict councils from imposing 20mph speed limits as part of his new shift against green policies and traffic schemes, a stance condemned by safety and travel groups as shortsighted and divisive.
The Guardian has been told the push against what Sunak has termed “anti-motorist” policies could be extended to find ways to stop local authorities taking measures that have been used routinely for decades.
The prime minister has already ordered a review into low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) in the wake of this month’s Uxbridge byelection, where an unexpected narrow Conservative win was helped by concerns about Labour mayor Sadiq Khan’s expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez).
Any additional move to push councils into rescinding 20mph speed limits on local roads or removing bus gates could prove even more contentious. The Guardian was told the shift in stance has come almost entirely from Downing Street.
The safety benefits of 20mph limits to pedestrians and cyclists have led to their use on many urban streets, with the Labour-run Welsh government announcing last year that it would become the default limit for built-up areas.
The charity RoadPeace, which helps people who are bereaved or seriously hurt in traffic crashes, said it would urge ministers to maintain support for the limit. Nick Simmons, its chief executive, said: “Our members are only too familiar with the devastating effect that speed has on road crashes and would be extremely disappointed to see roads made demonstrably less safe.”
The plans mark the latest shift away from environmental priorities since the Uxbridge result, with the prime minister saying last week he could delay or ditch policies that imposed a direct cost on households, such as the move to replace domestic boilers with heat pumps.
In a tweet on Sunday – showing the prime minister behind the wheel of Margaret Thatcher’s old Rover – Sunak was explicit in his attempt to create a political wedge issue, calling LTNs “anti-car schemes”.
It came after an interview with the Sunday Telegraph in which Sunak labelled Labour as anti-driver, and presented himself, by contrast, as someone who was on the side of voters “in supporting them to use their cars to do all the things that matter to them”.
Such an approach brings political risks, with research and polling suggesting that LTNs, which promote walking and cycling by filtering local streets so motor vehicles can access them but not as cut-throughs, are generally effective and popular.
A fairly routine approach to traffic management that has been used for decades, LTNs have become something of a culture war issue in parts of the media since Boris Johnson’s government rebranded them amid a push to build more of them during the Covid pandemic.
However, Sunak would face legal and logistical hurdles if he were to impose controls on local traffic schemes.
Councils can build LTNs under their own powers, granted under the 1984 Road Traffic Regulation Act, meaning that an absolute block on them would most probably require new legislation – a high bar for a largely niche issue that directly affects very few voters.
The Department for Transport (DfT), ordered by Sunak to carry out the review, does not even have a definition of what constitutes an LTN. While the DfT has said it will no longer fund new ones, similar plans have been supported subsequently but under different names such as “traffic management schemes”.
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One councillor who has overseen the installation of LTNs called the DfT review into the scheme “entirely performative, with no chance of changing anything”. Another called it “centralisation gone mad”.
No 10 and the DfT declined to give any details of the review’s scope or process, saying these would be “set out in due course”. One source said the plan was sprung on the department with minimal warning and virtually no guidance on how it should work.
It also remains unknown whether the plan is to seek the removal of all LTNs, even those that have been in place for long periods, or just those installed since 2020 when Johnson’s government provided £200m for more to be created.
Louise Haigh, the shadow transport secretary, said it was “pure hypocrisy” for a Tory government to condemn a policy the party had introduced, and condemned meddling in local decision-making.
“Measures to improve road safety around schools and in residential streets are often demanded by local communities themselves,” she said. “That’s why these are decisions for local authorities and must be done with proper consultation and taking onboard the concerns of communities.”
With the Conservatives consistently trailing Labour by 20-plus points in polls, No 10 has indicated that Sunak will take a more personal and aggressive campaigning stance. He is under pressure after the Uxbridge result to roll back on green and net zero policies, which has created alarm among environmental groups.
On Sunday, a group of 43 Tory MPs and peers who are sceptical about the government’s net zero targets wrote to Sunak asking him to delay the 2030 timetable for ending the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, something he again ruled out in the interview with the Sunday Telegraph.
Sunak is also pushing back against Labour’s policy of banning any new North Sea gas and oil projects. On Monday he is due to visit Aberdeenshire to announce funding for a new carbon-capture project in Scotland.