Council set to agree on road speed limit changes in Flintshire

Councillors will consider a report today which recommends changes to speed limits on some roads in Flintshire including several in Deeside.

The council set out to review inconsistencies with speed limit orders on some stretches of road in the county, a number of key actions have since been completed as the Council moves towards the creation a single consolidated speed limit order (SCSLO)

All Members were asked to highlight speed limit concerns within their own wards and as a result, over 100 requests for speed limit reviews were received.

Each request was then assessed against Department for Transport (DfT) criteria to determine if changes to the existing speed limit could be made.

Several roads in Deeside have been assessed and recommendations put forward under SCSLO’s they include;

The B5126 Near Broad Oak Cottages, Kelsterton junction, in 2014 the route was reduced from 60mph to 50mph. A 50mph speed limit should be considered for lower quality A and B Roads that have a relatively high number of bends, junctions or accesses. Due to the accident record on the road it is recommend to reduce this section of
carriageway to 40mph.

Wepre Lane into Northop Hall, the existing speed limit is only 450 metres long and situated between the 2 villages, both of which possess a 30mph speed limit. The minimum length of a speed limit should generally not be less than 600 metres to avoid too many changes along the route. For consistency, it is recommend to reduce this section of carriageway to 30mph.

Chester Road, Broughton from Airbus to Manor Lane roundabout, Extents of existing National speed limit is below the minimum length of 600m required. For purposes of consistency, it is therefore recommended to extending the existing 50mph, as speed and volume survey data suggests motorists are not exceeding 50mph.

B5126 Mold Road to Connah’s Quay; Does not meet the criteria for a 30mph speed limit, which should be considered where there are many bends, junctions, accesses & substantial development on both sides of the carriageway. Due to visibility issues for residents, road widths and the proximity of Connah’s Quay Village, it is recommended to introduce a 40mph buffer zone from the Connah’s Quay boundary sign near Bryn Gwyn Lane, to the existing 30mph speed limit.

Other roads set for speed limit changes include A5119 Northop Road, Flint Mountain and Station Road in Sandycroft.

The changes are due to go to a public consultation in October.

All speed limits will be available to the public to view at main libraries, County Hall Mold and Alltami Depot as well as being available on the Council’s website.

Cllr. Carolyn Thomas, Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Countryside said;

“Inaccuracies existed within some of the current speed limit Orders due to changes to features of the highway network which were used to locate the start and end of some of the original Orders.

In moving towards a single consolidated speed limit Order we have been able to simplify a previously over complicated process and make more effective use of resources to address the current inaccuracies.

The creation of an electronic map based system will play a key role in moving away from the archaic written Order process, allowing the Authority’s speed limits to be both viewed and advertised within a simple and easy to understand map based format

I would like to thank council members for their contributions to this review which have allowed us to make good, steady and thorough progress.”

[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.deeside.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Appendix-1-Matrix-assessment-of-Local-Member-speed-limit-requests.pdf” title=”Appendix 1 – Matrix assessment of Local Member speed limit requests”]