20mph speed limit ‘will give the lonely a better social life’

ROADS with 20mph speed limits will help to “combat loneliness”, a council has claimed.

Slower speeds will be ushered in across the majority of Edinburgh’s road network from early March – with only a few 30mph and 40mph streets exempt.

Among the claimed benefits of the change, the council has said that this will “boost local communities and combat loneliness”. Lesley Macinnes, the Edinburgh Council transport leader, said its research had demonstrated the benefits of lower speed limits for improving “social connections”.

However, critics have accused the council of trivialising the problem of loneliness.

Nick Cook, the transport spokesman for Edinburgh’s Conservatives, said: “We all must play our part in combating social isolation. However, for the council to claim that its controversial 20mph scheme is now apparently a mechanism to combat loneliness is as disappointing as it is ridiculous.”

The fourth and final phase of Edinburgh’s 20mph roll-out will come into force on March 5 – leaving 80 per cent of the city’s roads covered by the new rules.