Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will put in place guidelines for local authorities requiring them to base all local speed limits on traffic-engineering principles and not to impose lower speed limits merely as a local traffic deterrent or for other reasons.

Local traffic authorities are responsible for taking decisions about setting speed limits on their roads as they have the local knowledge making them the best placed to do so.

The Department for Transport issues non-mandatory guidance to English local authorities on setting speed limits.

Factors authorities are advised to take into account include history of collisions; road environment, geometry and engineering; road function and types of road users (including existing and potential levels of vulnerable road users); and existing traffic speeds.