Questions over 20mph enforcement in Caerwent

Questions are now being asked over enforcement of the lower limit in Caerwent while a local councillor has claimed a speeding car clipped a schoolboy’s backpack as he stood waiting for a bus. 

It was introduced in the village in April as part of the pilot project in the Severnside area which has paved the way for the Senedd to introduce a law that will make 20mph the default speed limit for all residential roads in built up areas from next September. 

Cllr Phil Murphy, who represents Caerwent on Monmouthshire council and was a member of the Conservative cabinet which put the area forward as one of eight locations across Wales to pilot the 20mph limit, said he and colleagues had always believed it would be backed up with enforcement action.

The speed camera partnerships says enforcement operations have been carried out in response to concerns raised by residents. 

Community councillor Paul Dalton with David Davies MP and Cllr Phil Murphy on Roman Road in Caerwent. 

Caerwent resident Diane Smith, who has lived in the village for more than 50 years, is among those to have contacted her MP David Davies.  

She told the the Conservative MP cars race to the main east-west A48, which the village is adjacent to, every rush hour. 

Ms Smith said: “The speeds on Caldicot Road are certainly not 20mph. It resembles a fast motorway. 

“There is no police presence, so no-one adheres to the limit. Now we do have the welcome 20mph limit, a traffic monitoring presence by the police would certainly deter these speed maniacs.” 

Cllr Murphy said he agreed there is a low level of compliance and that there is a lack of police presence to force drivers to obey the limit. 

He said multiple people had reported that a car had knocked a child’s backpack, as he was wearing it, while waiting for a school bus in the area known as Roman Road, which connects to the A48. 

The councillor said: “He was very, very lucky. He was shaken up and the driver probably didn’t even realise they’d done it. It’s a narrow pavement and there was a bunch of kids standing there but the point is people are going too fast down that road. 

“Had the driver been doing 20mph it wouldn’t have happened as they would have seen the kids.” 

Cllr Murphy said he, and council colleagues, believed police would allow a three month grace period following the introduction of the 20mph limit before drivers would face prosecution. 

Figures collected by Monmouthshire County Counci show that at the junction of St Tathans Place the percentage of vehicles breaking the 20mph speed limit dropped from 99.1 in April to 98.7 by October.  

However most were still doing double the new limit.

The speed at and below that 85 per cent of vehicles were travelling fell from 43.6mph in April to 41.7mph in October.    

At the junction of Eastgate Crescent, which is the stretch of road where its said the school boy’s backpack was hit and which runs to the A48, there was a bigger drop in the percentage of vehicles breaking the limit, falling to 87.6 in October from 90 in April, with typical speed down to 35.3mph from 37mph in April. 

Similar figures were revealed for Caldicot earlier this month. 

The Go Safe speed camera partnership, which works with all four Welsh police forces, is responsible for speed enforcement and conducted speed monitoring, and examined collision data, for Caerwent following concerns from the community in July 2019. 

As a result it said it has carried out mobile enforcement in the village which remains in place. 

A spokesman for Go Safe said: “It will remain active as we continue to support the Welsh Government and Welsh police forces in this, and other pilot areas.”