139 roads in Winton and the surrounding areas including Charminster, Moordown and Talbot Woods will see the speed limit reduced to 20mph as early as this summer. Currently there are 77 areas across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole that have 20mph zones.
These areas were identified as high priority as between 2019 and 2023 there were 217 casualties from collisions, with 36 people suffering serious injuries.
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It is understood that 20mph neighbourhoods will be introduces across the conurbation.
Funding for the scheme was approved at a full council meeting in April 2024.
The plans to introduce a pilot scheme in Winton and the surrounding areas were discussed at a cabinet meeting on March 4.
Councillor Chris Rigby, who represents Winton East, told cabinet members the residents and businesses in his ward are really pleased this is coming in or are ambivalent about it.
Councillor Sharon Carr-Brown, who represents Queens Park and Charminster which sits on the edge of the zone said residents she has spoken to are “very pleased to have it on their doorstep, but they are also slightly worried that people will speed up when they leave and that will be coming into our area”.
Councillor Kieron Wilson said he would be abstaining from the vote as a point of principle as he had previously told residents “primary and secondary roads wouldn’t be too heavily affected, I think there is a slight slither of this TRO where that isn’t the case”.
Councillor Millie Earl said her ward of Newtown and Heatherlands has a 20mph zone and there is a “real sense of change when you leave one of the main roads and go past that 20 mile per hour sign because what it does is signals to people this is a residential area”.
It is expected it will take around three months to implement the scheme, with consultation in the same area anticipated for around the same time.
Cabinet voted 8 to 0 in favour of the proposal with one abstention.