UK councils spend £41.9m on 20mph limits while 174 roads are switched back to higher speeds

Howard Cox, founder of FairFuelUK, branded the rollout 'an expensive exercise in political virtue signalling'. Hertfordshire topped the table at £4.64m, and £16.7m was spent in the latest year alone. Wales accounts for 92% of the reversals after public anger at its 2023 default 20mph limit. Flintshire spent more than £1.79m on the restrictions, then scrapped them on 47 roads.

Oxfordshire spent £3.03m and Cornwall spent £2.66m on new 20mph schemes.

Leicester has just approved 20mph zones on 60 more streets, which will cost £140,000.

Confused.com's Matt Crole-Rees insists that 'behind every one of those speed limit changes is a road safety issue'.