Plan to impose 20mph zones across North Yorkshire leads to furious row

A war of words has erupted over calls to introduce a default 20mph zone across North Yorkhire’s built-up areas.

The founder of the national 20s Plenty pressure group has lodged a standards complaint against the county’s transport chief.

Road safety charity 20s Plenty is focusing pressure on Cllr Keane Duncan after he questioned the group’s claims.

Cllr Duncan accused them of using increasingly ruthless tactics and asked for time to thoroughly consider whether 20mph zones should become standard in towns and villages.

The authority’s executive member for highways and transport issued the statement ahead of a meeting of Conservative-led North Yorkshire County Council’s Thirsk and Malton constituency committee tomorrow (Friday, 3 February).

The meeting is scheduled to see a notice of motion proposed by opposition councillors considered, which calls to extend a proposed trial of default 20mph zones across the vast area.

The council, which last year sought to relax rules about setting up 20mph zones, is already examining a proposal to trial default 20mph zones in built-up areas around Harrogate.

But its leaders have warned introducing it would cost about £1m and impact on its ability to fund road repairs across the county.

‘Unfounded claims’

The charity’s founder and campaign director Rod King has declined to specify the nature of the complaint to the council. Campaigners in the group have stated it is based on criticisms Cllr Duncan made about the campaign group’s claims.

A 20s Plenty for North Yorkshire spokesperson said the complaint was “on the grounds of Cllr Duncan’s attempts to influence the due democratic process in the committee ahead of this Friday’s meeting  by means of unfounded claims on our integrity”.

Members of the campaign group have suggested the outstanding standards issue would mean Cllr Duncan will not be able to vote on a notice of motion about 20mph limits at Friday’s meeting.

Responding to the suggestion, a county council spokesman said: “In the event of any complaint against a councillor, we would follow the relevant members complaints procedure. It would usually be a matter for a member to determine themselves whether they take part in a debate.”

20s Plenty campaigner Ian Conlan, who is also mayor of Malton, said the group had consistently had 70 per cent support over the years and its local surveys in North Yorkshire had backed that up and that Cllr Duncan was exaggerating the opposition to 20s Plenty.

He said 20s Plenty are pushing the issue at the moment in the hope of getting funding agreed for the pilot scheme in this year’s council budget.

Cllr Conlan said the council had had years to consider default 20mph zones and did not need more time to consider the issue and that Coun Duncan was trying to influence the democratic process by spreading misinformation about 20s Plenty.

Cllr Duncan said rather than welcoming democratic challenge, the leadership of 20’s Plenty had “resorted to issuing a formal complaint against me and are attempting to block me from voting at Friday’s meeting”.

He added: “I will not be intimidated by what I consider to be heavy-handed tactics and I will continue to publicly  challenge any misleading and exaggerated claims made.

“Most importantly, I will not allow the council’s review of 20mph limits to be rushed or unduly prejudiced. We will look at all factors thoroughly and only then will we make considered recommendations to improve road safety in North Yorkshire.”