The South Cambs Area Joint Committee (AJC) gave a positive response to the petition which Impington resident Vanessa Kelly presented at its meeting last Monday.

The petition called for a 30mph speed limit along the B1049 and a 20mph speed limit through the villages. In her presentation of the petition Vanessa referred to the relationship between speed and accident severity and recalled recent fatalities on the B1049. She also noted positive developments in 20mph zones elsewhere in the country including Portsmouth.

The AJC is not known for its support for requests for speed limits, many requests are several years old, but accepted that there is a public mood now in favour of some development in this area. A cynic might say that it must be election time.

County Councillor David Jenkins, who is a member of the AJC, said: ‘I support the petition in principle but in practice it will be a lot more complicated than just implementing 2 speed limits. We are fortunate in that three developments currently ongoing can be brought together to get us the right solution. These are the speed limit review, the cycling demonstration town money and the revisions to the Minerals and Waste Plan’.

‘We need to use these developments to establish a regime that:

1 makes the roads safer;

2 allows traffic to move freely; and

3 provides a better environment for bus users, cyclists and pedestrians.’

‘and at the same time we need to recognise that the B1049 is not just a Histon and Impington problem. It is at least as big a problem for Cottenham.’