Consultation on village speed issue

Following the recent “Update on village speed issue” Monmouthshire County Council are now proposing “a 20 mph speed limit and a 30 mph speed limit at Broadstone, Catbrook, Dingestow, Llandogo, Llanishen, Mitchel Troy, Mitchel Troy Common, Penallt, Parkhouse, Raglan, St.Arvans, The Narth, Tintern, Usk.” [See Amendment Order 7 for full document]

A public consultation period has now started in which “Any objections in respect of this proposal should be made in writing, stating the grounds on which the objection is being made and should be sent to Traffic Section, Monmouthshire County Council, County Hall, Usk NP15 1GA not later than 5 pm on Wednesday the 21st December 2022” or via clicking here where the public consultation response form can be accessed via the large green button.

NB You’ll need to select “AMENDMENT ORDER NO 7 - 2022” for your answer to Q4 and we advise you make it crystal clear in your answer to Q6 that you’re commenting on the Penallt situation only (assuming that that’s the case!)

Note that the text above refers to objections but the actual response form asks for feedback and, in particular, whether or not you support the proposal.

MCC are now proposing a modification of the plans discussed in August and are suggesting a hybrid scheme which reduces the extent of the 20mph zone. The new map is given below (30mph zone in red and 20mph zone in blue):-

MCC gives some reasons for the proposals in all areas in a Statement of Reasons document. A summary of the background behind the Wye Valley villages (including Penallt) proposals is given next.

“The Welsh Government are to introduce a national default 20mph speed limit for residential restricted roads in Wales by September 2023. In advance of this initiative, and following representations received from the local community MCC propose to introduce a community wide 20mph speed limit. The Welsh Assembly Government’s Circular 24/2009 provides national guidance for Setting local speed limits in Wales. MCC has considered paragraph 5.6 to 5.11 of the Welsh Assembly Government’s Circular 24/2009 in particular 5.7 and 5.10**. A decision has been made to depart from this guidance for the following reasons; The proposal is intended to reduce travelling speeds through the community, which in turn will encourage the use of alternative travel modes, such as walking, cycling and scooting. It will also have a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of the community . The proposals will contribute to creating a safer, more welcoming highway environment for all highway users and lessen the severity of road collisions.”

** these sections refer to the proposals for blanket 20mph zones in Wales.