Campaigners hopeful to see speed limits reduced in rural roads around Wargrave

Speed limits in 13 roads in and around Wargrave could be cut by half in a bid to improve safety for drivers and pedestrians, following calls for action from campaigners in the village.

The roads affected — Bear Lane, Blakes Lane, Blakes Road, Crazies Hill Road, Culham Lane, Dark Lane, Hatchgate Lane, Highfield Lane, Milley Lane, Mumbery Hill, Scarletts Lane, Tag Lane and Wargrave Hill — are all currently 60mph.

Road safety campaigners and the parish council hope the roads will meet the criteria to become ‘Quiet Ways’, which would see the speed limit reduced to 30mph by Wokingham Borough Council, the highways authority.

Simon Chapman, who lives in Scarletts Lane, had submitted a petition to the council two years ago calling on the speed limit to be halved.

He said: “For many years, I have not been prepared to risk life and limb by walking out of my front gate.

“But thankfully, common sense has prevailed and I will be popping corks at the street party as and when we celebrate what, for many, will be a life-enhancing reduction in the speed limit.”

To qualify for 30mph Quiet Way status, roads must typically be narrow, single carriageway rural lanes which are currently subject to the 60mph national speed limit.

They should also have no footway nor carriageway centre line, be narrow or have no verges, have low traffic volume of below 1,000 vehicles per day, have low average speeds of below 35mph, and evidence of a mix of vulnerable road users or the potential to attract them.

Laura Fenton, a mother-of-two, of Blakes Lane, Hare Hatch, described the prospect of a speed limit reduction to 30mph as “fantastic”.

She added: “I am often scared walking into the village with the buggy as cars brush by at speeds up to 60mph.”

Wayne Smith, a parish and borough councillor for Wargrave, said it was right action was being taken to improve road safety in the area.

He said: “I have manned dozens of speed patrols and spoken to countless worried residents about the escalating numbers of inconsiderate drivers in these single carriageway lanes.

“Many of these lanes are less than four metres wide in places and yet have to support fast-moving two-way traffic as well as vulnerable users who have no footpaths or verges to escape to. In addition to major incidents where the police or emergency services get involved, we see many minor accidents and near misses which never get recorded in the official data and it can be terrifying to take the dog for a walk or escort children to school.”

Cllr Adrian Betteridge, executive member of the borough council, said that traffic speed on minor rural roads is the biggest road safety issue raised by residents and that vulnerable road users represent a disproportionate number of the people who are killed or injured.

He said: “This is an important and overdue change in certain areas and will hopefully give residents the safety and confidence to walk and cycle in their area.

“We are hopeful to make the first changes this year – as quickly as we can, but it’s an enormous project across the whole borough.”

The borough council has said several roads may be grouped together in one application to make the process faster but the stages include design, formal consultation and implementation.

A spokesman for the borough council said it will announce the next steps in the speed reduction process next week.