Member of the Welsh Parliament blasts continued saga over the default 20mph speed limit

Sam Rowlands, Member of the Welsh Parliament for North Wales, says the default 20mph speed limit is still causing confusion and frustration in North Wales.

Mr Rowlands’ comments follow the Welsh Government’s recent review of 20mph and 30mph speed limits on trunk roads and the announcement that more roads in Flintshire are set to revert to 30mph.

Following a huge backlash to the policy in 2024 local authorities were given the power to change some roads from 20mph back to 30mph, however, very few were reverted in Flintshire. Flintshire County Council is now looking at changing more roads back to 30mph.

Mr Rowlands, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Transport and Infrastructure and a long-time critic of the introduction of the 20mph default speed limit, is leading the Welsh Conservative’s campaign for the default 20mph speed limit to be scrapped.

He said:

“I am pleased to see Flintshire Council is now looking at changing roads which should never have been set at 20mph back to 30mph but extremely disappointed that the whole sorry saga is still continuing.

“Labour and Plaid Cymru’s disastrous default 20mph speed limit has slowed Wales down and held our economy back.

“Their own review now admits that some 20mph stretches on trunk roads such as the A483 and A494 in North Wales went too far, with sections set to return to 30mph. However, motorists will still face confusion and years of delays before changes are implemented. It is simply not good enough.

“The depth of feeling against this bonkers idea is still immense and it is a real shame that local people and businesses continue to suffer for a Welsh Government vanity project which was ill thought out and quite frankly ridiculous.

“Almost half a million people signed a petition against the new default speed limit, the largest number ever to sign a Senedd petition and yet it still went ahead.

“The rollout has already cost taxpayers £32 million, with an estimated hit to the economy of up to £9 billion.

“It really was a crazy waste of money first with its implementation and now reversing some of the decisions. These funds should have been spent where needed on the NHS, education and public services.”