WITH plans to introduce 20mph speed limits as standard across Wales currently in progress, questions have been asked around how much the change will cost.

Campaigners who have lobbied for the change to be introduced in Wales - including Newport East AM John Griffiths - were celebrating last month after it was announced the Welsh Government had adopted it as an official policy.

First minister Mark Drakeford has said an implementation group looking into the idea has been formed, and it is planned the policy will be taken forward before the next Assembly Election in 2021.

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But, speaking in the Assembly this week, South Wales East AM David Rowlands said he was concerned about the potential cost of the idea, and pointed to research showing its effectiveness was limited.

"Where these blanket speed restrictions have been applied, such as north east Somerset and Bath, deaths and serious injuries have actually gone up," he said. "Manchester city has suspended its roll-out of 20mph zones, and the Department for Transport has stated that 20mph zones had proved ineffective.

"Considering north east Somerset spent £870,000 on its roll-out of zones, how much does the first minister estimate it will cost for such a roll-out in Wales, and to what effect?"

But Mr Drakeford said he was more positive about the idea.

"I don't think there's any doubt that the evidence demonstrates that they improve road safety and that they have a part to play in improving air quality and reducing carbon emissions," he said.

"They also, crucially, reduce what's called 'community severance' - the fact that communities can't act together because they have traffic speeding through them in a way that blocks people off from one another."

He added 20mph limits were already being introduced in some areas of Cardiff, and the success, or otherwise, of these would be drawn on in examining how the policy can be taken Wales-wide.

Research has shown decreasing the default limit from 30pmh to 20mph will cut the number of crashes by 17 per cent, and also benefit the environment due to less acceleration, gear changes and braking.

The limit was introduced on some roads in Bristol in 2014, and research has shown an estimated 18 lives have been saved, and more than 680 injuries have been prevented as a result.

Other cities to introduce the limit in some areas include Edinburgh, Birmingham, Bath, Manchester, Liverpool and Cambridge, and Transport for London has said the limit will be put in place on some roads within the Congestion Charging Zone by 2020.