THE leader of the Conservative Party in Wales has slammed the blanket imposition of 20mph zones on residential roads, claiming it will impact the economy to the tune of £9 billion.
Andrew RT Davies told GB News: “It’ll have a damaging impact on our economy, by their own figures nearly £9 billion will be wiped off the economy.
“And equally, it’s debatable given some previous studies whether the casualty rate reduction will actually happen.
“We all want to see safer roads. We all believe that outside schools, hospitals and other sensitive sites, 20mph is a sensible compromise. But to have a blanket 20mph across the whole of the country is just sheer madness.”
In a discussion with Andrew Pierce and Bev Turner, he continued: “That is a bad move on their part. And that’s why nearly 280,000 and climbing signatures have signed up to the petition to revoke these measures.
“And it’s worth remembering that the Welsh government have already put legislation down only last week to look at road charging, to look at workplace car park charging, and their war on motorists continues.”
He added: “Now their defence is that it can say councils can make exceptions. But given the spaghetti nature of the way councils have to apply through all this, many councils are just taking the default position and just adopted the blanket approach.
“And ultimately, that’s what’s got so many motorists and citizens across the whole of Wales signing this petition because of the madness of it.”
