SPOTLIGHT: Could Eastbourne have more 20mph speed limits? 

Campaigners for a 20mph limit in residential areas have dismissed claims by East Sussex County Council that it would require “significant and costly traffic management measures” to put in place. 

The introduction of 20mph speed limit areas in Eastbourne still seems a distant prospect, despite widespread support from political parties, residents and businesses. 

An alliance of Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors in the town have formed a group with transport campaigners to lobby for change.  

But East Sussex County Council (ESCC), as highways authority, has said that introducing 20mph limits was “not a priority”. 

A recent sustainable transport summit in Eastbourne heard that road casualty rates fell by 40% after 20mph was introduced across Edinburgh. 

There were the same number of casualties on East Sussex roads in 2019 as in 2010.

The website crashmap.co.uk shows 45 pedestrian casualties in the last five years in an Eastbourne town centre search area, of whom 12 were seriously injured.  

The Eastbourne Reporter asked ESCC why it did not view lowering the limit as a priority. 

A spokesman said: “We support 20mph speed limits where they are appropriate and have a number in East Sussex, including town centre roads in Eastbourne. 

“The introduction of a lower speed limit will not automatically slow traffic down and whilst a 20mph speed limit can be effective with signs alone on roads where the average traffic speed is below 24mph, on roads where average speeds are higher there would need to be significant and costly traffic management measures put in place.” 

But Adrian Berendt (below), south of England organiser for the 20s Plenty campaign, said expensive traffic calming schemes as suggested by ESCC were not necessary to reduce the speed limit. Road signs were an effective and less expensive measure.

He said: “They are letting perfection be the enemy. East Sussex is saying that if we can’t get you to go at 20mph, we will leave it at 30mph.  

“They are ignoring all the evidence that simply by changing a speed limit using signs, people will travel more slowly. They might break the 20mph speed limit – but it will be at a lower level. 

“Just because you haven’t got the money to do the engineering, doesn’t stop you getting the speeds down – East Sussex is one of the most backward local authorities in this. 

“East Sussex is conflating compliance with effectiveness. They say if the current speed is 28mph, you must get speeds down to 20mph.  

“But what is required is if the current speed is 28mph and you have a 20mph limit, in reality you will get a 4-5mph reduction in speed. If you said to people: ‘Would you rather be hit at 28mph or 24mph?’ I know what everyone would choose.” 

The 20s Plenty campaign is pushing for a speed limit of 20mph to be normal in residential areas and town and village centres across the country.

Mr Berendt said that 28 million people across the country were living in local authorities with 20mph speed limits. 

ESCC stated in June that widespread 20mph limits were not a priority. 

It said at the time: “A potential scheme to introduce a default 20mph speed limit for residential roads across East Sussex has been assessed through our approved scheme prioritisation process and is not a priority for the county council at the present time.”  

Eastbourne Conservative MP Caroline Ansell (above), speaking at the transport summit last month, pledged to take up the issue. She said she became aware of the impact of different speeds in accidents when she took part in a speed awareness course a few years ago. 

“I saw a film that demonstrated the impact the collision impact between car and child … 40mph was the graveyard slot clearly, 30mph was life-changing injuries, at 20mph he lived to tell the tale. Nothing spoke more to me about what 20mph limit might mean, so I’ll take that up.” 

She is also running a survey on Facebook, asking what residents think and highlighting the potential cost.

The ESCC spokesperson said the council would reduce the speed on 25 stretches of road in the next three years. It did not specify which roads or speed limits. 

They said in a statement to the Eastbourne Reporter: “We recognise that the idea of 20mph speed limits are often well supported by local communities, but we have a finite amount of funding to develop local road safety and transport improvements across the county, and need to ensure that our resources are used on schemes that will have an impact and the greatest benefit to the local community.” 

They said the council’s speed limit policy was in line with central government guidance and local and national evidence which indicated that introducing 20mph speed limits on all residential roads “would not make best use of our resources, and that targeted interventions are more effective”. 

However, ESCC said that £500,000 had been allocated for a ‘Speed Management Programme’ with additional funding from future capital programmes.  

The spokesperson added: “As part of this programme, over the next three years, more than 25 stretches of road will benefit from speed limit reductions or measures that will increase the effectiveness of existing speed limits.” 

A cross-party group, members of Bespoke cycle group and other transport campaigners met last night (6 December) at Eastbourne town hall for the first time to plan a campaign to introduce 20mph limits in residential areas.  

Liberal Democrat Jim Murray, Cabinet member for climate change on Eastbourne Borough Council, told the meeting that individual 20mph zones could be taken forward as an idea to ESCC. Also at the meeting was Conservative Councillor Nigel Goodyear.

Comments are welcome. They are pre-moderated and may be edited for clarity and to avoid potential libel

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