A proposed 20mph speed limit scheme for Burneside is moving to the next stage after Westmorland and Furness Council reviewed more than 2,000 responses to 26 community-backed proposals. The development will be of interest to residents in Burneside and nearby Kendal, where road safety and travel through surrounding villages remain local concerns.
Seventeen schemes across Westmorland and Furness will now proceed to statutory consultation on the legal orders needed to change speed limits. Eleven will move forward as originally proposed, while six will be amended in response to feedback. The final decision on whether and when the limits are implemented will come later.
What the Burneside proposal means
Burneside is listed among the South Lakeland schemes that will be taken forward with amendments. The council’s announcement does not specify the exact changes proposed for the Burneside scheme, so residents will need to review the forthcoming legal-order consultation for the detailed design.
The programme is intended for built-up towns and villages where the existing maximum speed limit is 40mph or less. The council says the schemes have been designed using Department for Transport guidance and are intended to make roads safer for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.
For Burneside residents, the next formal stage will provide another opportunity to comment before any 20mph zone is introduced. Statutory consultation and advertisement of the proposed Traffic Regulation Orders, known as TROs, will soon begin. These orders are the legal process required to change speed limits.
17 schemes progress, nine are dropped
The proposals were considered by the Eden, Furness and South Lakeland locality boards in July. In South Lakeland, High Carley and Pennington, Lowick Green and Outgate will proceed without amendments. Burneside, Grasmere and Ulverston will proceed with changes.
The Ulverston amendments will include Soutergate, part of Town Bank Road, Rake Lane and Oakwood Drive. The proposals for Elterwater, Rydal, Troutbeck and Windermere will not go ahead because the consultation responses did not demonstrate enough support.
Elsewhere, the Eden schemes for Bolton, Maulds Meaburn and Newbiggin-on-Lune will proceed unchanged, while Kirkby Stephen will proceed with amendments. Proposed schemes for Castletown in Penrith, Culgaith, Hunsonby and Winskill, and Little Salkeld will not be taken forward.
In Furness, schemes around Barrow Island Community School, Greengate Junior School, Holy Family Roman Catholic Primary School, Ormsgill Nursery and Primary School, and South Walney Infants and Primary Schools will proceed without amendments. The schemes for St Bernard’s Roman Catholic High School and Yarlside Primary School will be amended, with the Yarlside zone extended into part of Yarlside Road. North Walney will not proceed.
Furness locality board members agreed that there was sufficient community support for the Barrow Island, Greengate and South Walney schemes to reach statutory consultation, even though conclusive support was not shown in the initial consultation.
How the wider programme has developed
If the latest proposals are implemented, Westmorland and Furness Council will have approved 60 20mph schemes across three phases since 2023. The council says the limits are intended not only to improve safety but also to encourage more people to walk and cycle, supporting what it describes as a healthier and more sustainable environment.
“I am pleased that these 20mph schemes will now progress to the next stage. By reducing speed limits, safety is improved and more people are encouraged to walk and cycle, contributing to a healthier, more sustainable environment.”
The quotation is from Councillor Peter Thornton, the council’s Cabinet Member for Highways and ICT. He added:
“When these latest schemes are implemented, we will have supported 60 communities to introduce 20mph schemes. Sixty communities the length and breadth of Westmorland and Furness which are safer for all.”
The council introduced a streamlined route for communities to request 20mph limits in December 2023. It says the new approach reduced the application process by several months and led to 49 requests covering 79 proposed schemes across the area.
Residents will have a final chance to comment on the detailed designs during the statutory consultation. No implementation date for the Burneside scheme is given in the announcement.
