20mph limit is imposed on road after complaints

THE speed limit on a road outside a Coventry school will drop to 20mph after complaints.

Bredon Avenue, in Binley, which includes St Bartholomew’s Church of England Academy, will see the speed limit drop from 30mph to 20mph by the end of May.

Councillors were told residents have raised concerns about speeding on the road.

Joel Logue, highways officer at Coventry City Council, said: “Historically residents and local councillors have raised concerns about vehicular speeds down this section of the highway.

“There’s a school on Bredon Avenue and at peak times we do have lots of school children and other vulnerable road users using this section so it lends itself very well for a 20mph speed limit.”

The authority said the move is part of an aspiration for Coventry to become a 20mph city - an idea agreed in 2014, although there has been slow progress in rolling it out, with roads added based on a ‘priority list.’

One objection was received in consultation - not against the principle of lowering the speed on the road - but criticising the council’s “piecemeal” approach to its 20mph city pledge.

They said: “The council approved a default speed limit of 20mph throughout the city back in 2014. It is now seven years since this measure was approved.

“The city must instead make every non-arterial road 20mph and then consult on the exceptions, not the other way around.”

Mr Logue said the authority “simply doesn’t have the finances” to install 20mph limits in one citywide Traffic Regulation Order.

“However we are working prioritising lists so that we can extend them,” he added.

Cabinet member for city services Cllr Pat Hetherton added: “I note the objector’s comments and it’s something going forward, 20mph zones are something with low-traffic neighbourhoods that we are looking at.”

Existing 20mph speed limits were installed along nearby The Quorn Way in 2002 and extended along Princethorpe Way in 2010 although signage is not in place in the latter.

As part of the changes, signage has also been agreed to make clear the lower speed limit along Princethorpe Way.