Twenty-four 20mph speed limits will move on to the next stage across Westmorland and Furness in 2026.
Over 5,200 people took part in a consultation, which determined the schemes that will now advance on to statutory consultation.
Designed on Department for Transport guidance, the schemes focus on areas in built up towns and villages with a current maximum speed limit of 40mph or less.
After going before Eden, Furness and South Lakeland locality boards for approval this month, all 24 area areas initially proposed will go ahead to statutory consultation and preparation of legal orders before a final decision is made to determine implementation in early 2026.
Twenty schemes are to progress as proposed and four with amendments based on community feedback.
Furness
All eight of the proposed 20mph schemes will go ahead in the Furness area.
- Cambridge Primary School, Barrow
- Cows Tarn Lane, Walney
- Dane Ghyll Primary School, Barrow
- Newbarns Primary School, Barrow
- Ramsden Infant School, Barrow
- Walney School
- Sandy Gap Lane
Amendments to 20mph scheme designs at St Paul’s Junior School and Victoria Infant and Nursery School and Victoria Junior School, in Barrow will join the two schemes together to ensure they best meet community needs raised in the consultation.
Eden
Moving ahead as planned are:
- Clifton
- Gamblesby
- Glassonby
- Great Asby
- Greystoke
- Sockbridge & Tirril
- Stainton
In Penrith, 9,294 individual notifications resulted in a total of 764 responses and 730 of them who registered a postcode within Penrith itself.
Forty six per cent were in support, 14 per cent in support with amendments and 40 per cent against. Analysis of the data indicated that, while other areas of Penrith were supportive overall of the proposals, the data for Castletown was inconclusive.
This led to a recommendation that Skirsgill Lane be added to the scheme and the Castletown proposals omitted and resubmitted and reconsulted on separately as part of next year’s proposals.
South Lakeland
Moving ahead as planned are:
- Cartmel
- Greenodd and Penny Bridge
- Heversham
- Ings
- Levens
- Milnthorpe
- Satterthwaite
The Kendal scheme will also move ahead as planned. A total of 15,712 properties received individual notification of the consultation; a total of 2,705 responses were received. Forty per cent of respondents supported the proposal, 16 per cent supported it with amendments and 44 per cent were against.
Statutory consultation and advertisement of the proposed Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO), the legal process required to change speed limits, will soon start. This will give residents a final opportunity to share their views on the detailed final designs before any scheme is rolled out.
Requests for the limits came through a new streamlined route launched by Westmorland and Furness Council in December 2023 which made it easier and quicker for communities to submit applications for 20mph.
It accelerated the application process by several months, leading to 49 requests covering 79 proposed schemes across the area.
