Rishi Sunak to unveil pro-motorist measures curbing councils’ powers to impose 20mph speed limits and levy fines from traffic cameras
- Local authorities set to be limited in their ability to levy fines
Rishi Sunak is set to unveil pro-motorist measures limiting council powers to impose 20mph zones and levy fines from traffic cameras.
The Prime Minister is hoping to gain support from drivers by announcing a ‘Plan for Motorists’ at the Tory conference early next week.
His pledges are set to include a restriction on the number of hours a day that cars are banned from bus lanes and curbing the use of number plate recognition cameras.
Local authorities are also set to be limited in their ability to levy fines and raise revenue from traffic cameras and enforcing box junction infringements, according to The Guardian.
Last night a Department for Transport source described the reported policies, which have not yet been discussed with councils, as ‘speculation’.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is hoping to gain support from drivers by announcing a ‘Plan for Motorists’ at the Tory conference early next week
Mr Sunak has already pledged to crack down on ‘anti-motorist’ policies enforced by local authorities and has already ordered a review into low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs).
It is believed to be part of a strategy to draw a dividing line between the Tories and Labour by portraying the Government as being on the side of drivers.
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Last night Mr Sunak said he will ‘probably be driving’ to Manchester for the party’s annual conference, which starts this Sunday, due to train strikes.
He also told BBC Radio Manchester that the ‘vast majority of the journeys that people make are in their cars. The journeys that people use in Greater Manchester and across the North, it’s in their cars, right now, getting to work, taking their kids to school.
‘Making sure the roads are free of potholes, that’s priority number one people raise with me,’ he added.
The reports come just days after the PM announced a relaxation of Net Zero policies, including delaying a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035.
Speaking in July, Mr Sunak said: ‘The vast majority of people in the country use their cars to get around and are dependent on their cars.’
He said: ‘When I’m lucky enough to get home to North Yorkshire, it’s more representative of how most of the country is living, where cars are important.
‘I just want to make sure people know that I’m on their side in supporting them to use their cars to do all the things that matter to them.’ At the time, the Daily Mail revealed how the rollout of green traffic schemes was set to be slowed or even reversed under government plans for a ‘new deal for the motorist’.
Rishi Sunak is set to unveil pro-motorist measures limiting council powers to impose 20mph zones and levy fines from traffic cameras
Ministers are also considering a big expansion of funding to fill in potholes. A Tory source said: ‘Labour are vulnerable on this stuff because they do not understand how ordinary people live.
‘When you look at how they act in power, whether it’s London or Wales or Oxford, they just want to penalise drivers at every turn. We have an opportunity here to stand up for those people.’ In the Uxbridge by-election this summer, Labour were punished by voters after London Mayor Sadiq Khan pressed on with the expansion of the capital’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez), which imposes a £12.50 daily levy on non-compliant vehicles.
This week, Welsh deputy climate change minister Lee Waters faced a no-confidence vote after leading the introduction of a new default 20mph speed limit, although the bid to have him sacked failed.
Bob Bull, chairman of the Alliance of British Drivers, said: ‘This would be a welcome shift in attitude from the Government.
‘Overzealous council leaders across the country have proved that they cannot be trusted to implement sensible transport policy. They have made drivers’ lives a misery.’
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