A GROUP calling for default 20 miles per hour limits on all residential streets and in town and village centres, campaigned outside North Yorkshire County Council on Monday, trying to treat “the symptom not the cause.”

The group, called 20s Plenty for Us, is a not-for-profit organisation campaigning to make 20 miles per hour speed limit normal on streets where people and motor vehicles mix.

So far the group has reached 47 parish councils, which have all passed motions of support for the “20s Plenty” campaign.

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On Monday December 20, Ian Conlan, North Yorkshire coordinator and other members of the group based in the region gathered outside North Yorkshire County Council’s headquarters in Northallerton to present them a Christmas card.

Speaking with Daniel Harry, of Democratic Services for the council, they hoped to convince the council to implement the default 20mph speed limit on North Yorkshire highways.

However, the group was reportedly told the decision was not “cost effective” as the council have said a “20mph speed limit must be right for the location.”

A review of the 20mph speed limit, which heart from traffic engineers, road safety and public health officers found it is "not appropriate to apply a countywide default 20p speed limit."

Speaking on Monday Ian Conlan said: “This is despite the fact that Conservative Cornwall has just decided to go for a 20mph default limit.

“Places like Wales, Scotland, half of London, Oxford, Cornwall, Lancashire, I mean, 26 million people in the UK now are living in areas with default 20 policies.”

“I was just reading today, that Edinburgh have done a study that shows that areas with a 20 mile per hour limit have a third fewer collisions, and they’ve included a lot of main roads in their default 20.

“It’s very difficult for people like Poppy when crossing the road for school, especially at the moment with electric vehicles because you can’t hear them coming."

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“It also has 70 per cent plus support in survey after survey and that was held up last week, we heard that individual parishes had done Facebook polls and they were coming back with an overwhelming number of people in favour of it.

Charlotte Smith, Mam to poppy aged 6, said they both find it very "hard to cross the road for school."

The Northern Echo:

She added: "So we live in Bellerby, we live on the edge of Bellerby, and there’s like a long straight and a corner to go up a big hill.

“And we have to cross to go to school right on the corner, so you have to listen, which is hard when you’re with the little one or it’s windy.

“We find it very hard to cross the road and go to school don’t we it’s a bit dangerous."

Karl Battersby, Corporate Director of Business and Environmental Services, said: "The safety and accessibility of our roads is a high priority. At 5,800 miles, North Yorkshire’s road network is one of England’s largest and, in places, most remote. It is essential to many aspects of life in the county.

He added: "A revised policy has been drafted to that effect and seeks to offer greater flexibility and a focus on place and community, particularly around schools

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