Strensall ward Conservative Councillor’s Paul Doughty and Helen Douglas together with Earswick Parish Councillor Sian Wiseman have welcomed the decision of the Executive Member for Transport, Cllr Peter Dew to implement an 18 month trial to reduce the speed limit of the 60mph national speed limit section of Strensall Road between Earswick and Strensall to 40mph. The trial will be under an ‘Experimental Traffic Control Order’ and can be reviewed if necessary. This comes after Councillor’s Doughty and Wiseman spoke on behalf of residents at a City of York Council decision session today (Thursday 12th April). The process was started when Cllr Doughty presented a resident petition at a previous meeting of Full Council some time ago calling for “a consistent 40mph zone from the edge of Strensall at the Towthorpe crossroads to the commencement of the current 30mph section at the main built up part of Earswick village.”
Strensall ward Councillor Paul Doughty said, ”I am delighted with this decision. It has been a team effort and I’d like to show my appreciation to Sian (Cllr Wiseman) and others who helped us collect petition signatures, both Parish Councils affected as well as the many residents who gave their encouragement and support for the campaign on the doorstep. In our opinion 60mph is way too fast for such a short section of road with so many potential hazards and absence of a safe cycle path when several hundred secondary school pupils travel between Strensall and Earswick to Huntington School.”
Cllr Doughty continued, “I thank Cllr Dew who brings expertise to his Executive role from his former transport world of work and have no doubt this was an important contributing factor in the decision. More importantly, he has proven he listens and has backed residents with this.”
Earswick Parish Council Vice-Chair Sian Wiseman added, “I have lived in Earswick for 38 years and during that time I have seen an immense increase in traffic using Strensall Road. The Parish Council has been approached on many occasions to help push for a reduction in the speed limit to improve the safety of residents leaving their properties on Strensall Road and for cyclists in particular. This is a huge step in the right direction and I am grateful to Cllr Doughty for supporting us and also to Cllr Dew for his very welcome decision today. We look forward to the trial starting as soon as possible.”