Twenty-four community-backed 20mph speed limits will be progressed to the next stage across Westmorland and Furness in 2026.
Following an extensive consultation process, more than 5,200 residents took part by responding and shaped the 20mph schemes that will now advance on to statutory consultation.
Designed based on clear Department for Transport guidance, the schemes will create safer roads for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists. They focus on areas in built up towns and villages with a current maximum speed limit of 40mph or less.
After going before Eden, Furness and South Lakeland locality boards for approval this month, all 24 area areas initially proposed will go ahead to statutory consultation and preparation of legal Orders before the final decision is made to determine implementation in early 2026. 20 schemes are to progress as proposed and four with amendments based on community feedback.
Westmorland and Furness Council Cabinet Member for Highways and ICT, Cllr Peter Thornton said: "I am pleased that these 20mph schemes will now progress to the next stage. They will make streets safer for all and encourage wider use, whether that be walking, wheeling or cycling.
"We said we would listen to residents’ views and we have heard from 5,200 people. It has been a massive task to analyse all that feedback and amend schemes where appropriate, but it has been worth it.
"In the case of Castletown in Penrith, the feedback was not conclusive one way or the other, so we feel the fairest way forward is to relook at that area separately with next year' schemes."
The outcome was as follows:
Furness
All eight of the proposed 20mph schemes will go ahead in the Furness area.
With strong support from residents, the schemes for Cambridge Primary School, Barrow; Cows Tarn Lane, Walney; Dane Ghyll Primary School, Barrow; Newbarns Primary School, Barrow; Ramsden Infant School, Barrow; and Walney School and Sandy Gap Lane will move ahead as planned.
Amendments to 20mph scheme designs at St Paul’s Junior School and Victoria Infant and Nursery School and Victoria Junior School, in Barrow will join the two schemes together to ensure they best meet community needs raised in the consultation.
Click here for full details of the Furness schemes (Item 9).
Eden
The proposed schemes for Clifton, Gamblesby, Glassonby, Great Asby, Greystoke, Sockbridge & Tirril and Stainton received significant community backing and will move ahead as planned.
In Penrith, a total of 9,294 individual notifications resulted in a total of 764 responses, 730 of those from respondents who registered a postcode within Penrith itself.
Forty six per cent were in support, 14 per cent in support with amendments and 40 per cent against.
Analysis of the data indicated that, whilst other areas of Penrith were supportive overall of the proposals, the data for Castletown was inconclusive.
This led to a recommendation that Skirsgill Lane be added to the scheme and the Castletown proposals omitted and resubmitted and reconsulted on separately as part of next year's proposals.
Click here for full details of the Eden schemes (Item 10).
South Lakeland
The proposed schemes for Cartmel; Greenodd and Penny Bridge; Heversham; Ings; Levens; Milnthorpe and Satterthwaite received significant community backing and will move ahead as planned.
The Kendal scheme will also move ahead as planned. A total of 15,712 properties received individual notification of the consultation; a total of 2,705 responses were received. Forty per cent of respondents supported the proposal, 16 per cent supported it with amendments and 44 per cent were against.
Click here for details of the South Lakeland schemes (Item 7).
Statutory consultation and advertisement of the proposed Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO), the legal process required to change speed limits, will soon start. This will give residents a final opportunity to share their views on the detailed final designs before any scheme is rolled out.
Requests for the limits came through a new streamlined route launched by Westmorland and Furness Council in December 2023 which made it easier and quicker for communities to submit applications for 20mph. The new approach accelerated the application process by several months, leading to 49 requests covering 79 proposed schemes across the area.
For more information on 20mph schemes in Westmorland and Furness.