SUPPORTERS of the idea to lower speed limits in Swindon's residential areas to 20mph in a bid to save lives reacted to the council's new lobbying guide.

Stratton St Margaret parish councillor Roger Smith first suggested the reduction and it gained support among his colleagues and other parishes in the borough, including Stanton Fitzwarren and Highworth.

Coun Smith and Stanton Fitzwarren parish councillor Richard Codrington expected it to take "at least a year" to drum up public support through a consultation and test the speed limit-lowering scheme to prove that it does make a difference.

Coun Smith said: "It will improve road safety and save lives and I’m encouraged by the report but the wider jury is still out on whether it will make a difference.

“It’s important that the borough don’t create unrealistically-high hurdles and look to work with the parish council to bring this about in a positive way rather than look for ways to avoid doing this."

Coun Codrington said: "We need to be more open about the benefits of 20mph because there’s still a lot of resistance to the idea and I’m not sure why. Parts of the London south circular are 20mph and traffic speed has come down there.

“It does have an effect and other places are doing it without queries like how it will be policed – how often do you see 30mph roads being policed? It becomes self-policing.

"Anything which helps make it less difficult to achieve a 20mph limit, like the council's guide, is welcome. It’s promising and encouraging."

Earlier this month, Swindon Borough Council published a draft road safety strategy which highlighted evidence of public support as a key factor in persuading the local authority to implement the reduction and pay for new signage.

Coun Smith added: "I can’t think of any area of council decision-making where the majority is required – even in an election, it’s a majority of those who vote not the majority of everyone in the area, it’s setting quite a high bar.

“These proposals are often divisive and there are those who will be unhappy with it and those who object will be more likely to get involved in a consultation than those who quietly agree with it.”

Coun Codrington added: "There’s not much difficulty in some of the smaller parishes to get enough community support, but some of the larger parishes will have a heck of a job.

"It might take a while but it’s a necessary preliminary step to take to introduce a 20mph limit and it’s a step in the right direction.”