Just days from now, Labour’s ludicrous blanket rollout of 20mph speed limits all across the country will come into force.
September 17 has been a day I – and countless other residents– have been absolutely dreading for quite some time.
I can honestly say that I’ve not left a stone unturned in making everyone aware of this ridiculous policy, and voicing my concerns, as well as those of residents and organisations.
Since the madcap policy was first floated by Labour ministers, the number of people vocally opposing it has grown rapidly.
And I have absolutely no doubt the number of people up and in arms will swell further once Labour’s money-making exercise gets into full swing.
To put it simply, this is a disastrous, ill thought out, policy which Labour ministers are pushing ahead with while ignoring legitimate concerns.
One retained firefighter recently warned that this blanket 20mph speed limit will lead to delays in getting to fires and other incidents.
The emergency worker also revealed the project would delay retained firefighters getting to stations in their own cars.
That revelation came not long after South Wales Police’s Assistant Chief Constable admitted the new blanket 20mph speed limit “will have an impact on how we within the four Welsh police forces and you as emergency services, carry our core business”.
These admissions prove that this policy is clearly not about safety, when lives are being put at risk as a result.
Please don’t think that I’m against 20mph speed limits. I’m all for a targeted approach, but not this blanket move.
We’ve already seen the original eye-watering £32m drastically increase, and let’s not forget the mammoth £4.5bn hit the project will deliver to our economy.
And now the bill has shot up even further which a recent Welsh Conservative probe revealing the Labour administration in Cardiff Bay has earmarked more than £800,000 on marketing for the 20mph scheme.
Earlier in the summer First Minister Mark Drakeford ordered his ministerial team to go away and find cuts in their departments.
Shortly after that we heard Labour’s Health Minister threaten "deeper" cuts to Welsh NHS services to end the pay dispute with healthcare workers – which is extremely alarming.
If this allegedly cash-strapped government wants to free up some money, scrapping this 20mph scheme – and their other vanity projects – would be a good place to start.
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