Councils raise taxes by maximum amount to fund new 20mph zones

Joe Wright

Tue, 24 February 2026 at 10:32 pm GMT+9 3 min read

The extended rollout of 20mph zones across the UK has been a widely contentious issue - Paul Maguire /iStockphoto

Two Liberal Democrat councils are introducing maximum tax rises to help fund new 20mph speed limit zones.

Residents in Gloucestershire and Hertfordshire will be saddled with increased council tax bills from April to fund a £3.5m rollout of low-speed zones.

Taxpayers warned in a public consultation that the schemes would be disruptive and that the money would be better spent on priority services.

But both local authorities voted to increase council tax by 4.99pc – the maximum rise available to councils without gaining special permission from central government.

Lisa Spivey, leader of Gloucestershire council, said the rollout of 20mph zones was a key priority for the authority.

She said: “Lower speed limits don’t just tackle accident rates, they create healthier environments with better air quality, making people feel safer and encouraging walking and cycling.”

Results of a public consultation put before councillors showed a split in public opinion on the plans.

The report said respondents opposed the schemes for being “disruptive” and argued money would be better spent on road maintenance or higher priority services.

However, councillors agreed last week to allocate £2m towards the 20mph rollout, funded by a 4.99pc tax rise.

The decision means the average Band D council tax bill will rise by £84 a year. Money raised from the council’s £700m budget will also go towards adult social care, education for young people and wider road improvements in the county.

‘Unaffordable, unpopular and unnecessary’

To the east in Hertfordshire, councillors also approved a 4.99pc tax increase, with £1.5m of the money raised to be spent on installing 20mph signage in 200 areas in the county.

Matthew Hurst, a Reform UK councillor for Hertfordshire, said: “With council finances at their limit, this Lib Dem vanity project is unaffordable, unpopular and completely unnecessary.

“It provides no direct benefits to Hertfordshire residents. Compliance with the zones is notoriously poor, rendering their effectiveness questionable.”

He said there was “scant evidence” that the zones significantly reduced incidents or saved lives.

Lib Dem councillor Paul Zukowskyj rebuked the claims and stressed that “they make communities safer and make people feel better about their kids walking to school”.

“The data is very clear, there is a 25pc reduction in casualties after it is introduced,” he said.

Councillor Zukowskyj said the previous Conservative administration first introduced 20mph zones to the area and they previously “littered those areas with speed humps”.

“They made the whole idea an awful lot less attractive to communities. We’ve changed that and we are doing a sign-only approach.

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“With this extra £1.5m, more than 50pc of the urban streets in Hertfordshire will be 20mph. I think that is a really significant achievement.”

The extended rollout of 20mph zones has been a contentious issue across Britain in recent years.

Government guidance stipulates that councils “should only introduce 20mph limits and zones in the right places, over time and with local support in urban areas and built-up village streets that are primarily residential”.

Last month, Liberal Democrat-led Wokingham council was accused of ignoring residents after more than 110 objections were submitted against plans for new low-traffic zones near Reading.

Across the border in Wales, the Government introduced 20mph speed limits on all restricted roads in late 2023. It became the most unpopular policy in the history of Welsh devolution, with a petition against it being signed by half a million people.

Some roads reverted back to 30mph in 2024 but ministers last week proposed scaling back limits on further roads.

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