Road Safety Powers: Parish and Town Councils

Matt Rodda Excerpts

Monday 30th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sam Rushworth]

That is exactly the point I am making and I welcome my hon. Friend’s intervention.

[Matt Rodda (Reading Central) (Lab)]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for raising this important matter. On a more serious note, I offer my deepest condolences to two people who lost their lives in a road accident in Reading recently, although I do not want to comment on that because it is under police investigation.

I commend my hon. Friend for the work that he is doing. Many smaller unitary local authorities, such as the borough council in my town, have a great deal of local knowledge, yet they are often held back because they are unable to enforce traffic offences, such as speeding, even when 20 mile per hour zones or other zones have been introduced. As my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing Southall (Deirdre Costigan) said, it would be wonderful if that power could be delegated to them rather than to the police, who are very busy?

[Sam Rushworth]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent intervention. I have mentioned High Grange and Hamsterley—I have only got to “H” on my list, so I had better move on. The residents in Coundon Gate, in my constituency, have to put up with 60 mph traffic driving past just 2 metres from their front windows, and they have asked for traffic calming.