Speed restrictions (FOI)

Request

Various speed limits in St Lawrence, St Mary, St Peter and St Brelade were reduced at the end of 2020. My questions are in relation to the process of that reduction.

A

Any written correspondences between Infrastructure, Housing and Environment (IHE) and the Parish or Connétable of St Lawrence regarding the recent speed limit reductions within that parish.

Further to that point, specifically on the decision to ignore the results of the St Lawrence Speed Limit Consultation.  See the following link:

St Lawrence speed limit consultation (FOI)

B

Correspondences between St Brelade Parish and IHE about the reduction to 20mph on La Route Orange.

C

The total cost of signage for speed limit reduction. Specifically, the total cost including labour costs, the total cost of the signage and the cost to the Government (on States roads) and any information you have on the costs to Parishes on parish roads.

D

Information on what has been done with signs that have now been removed, if such information exists.

E

Any data from speed limit enforcement, since the changes were implemented, about people travelling over the speed limit.

Response

A

Copies of all correspondence discovered are now available for you to view through a private Egress account, which is a secure document sharing platform. Instructions on how to access Egress will follow shortly.

The extract below from the St Lawrence Parish Magazine offers some insight into how decisions were reached with regard to the speed limit changes in St Lawrence following the public consultation:

“It is clear that many of the objections received, particularly amongst those who do not live in the Parish, were to the principle of reducing speed limits rather than specific changes. We know that lower speed limits are undesirable for many on the routes that drivers use most frequently and there is a need to balance this while maintaining the environment where people live and making it feel safer for residents.

The proposals presented, therefore, only proposed reducing speed limits on main roads where this was considered necessary. The vast majority of the reductions are proposed on smaller routes which should not carry much through traffic. In some areas, the changes are to connect existing paths and green lanes to a wide section of the community, thereby increasing the access for parishioners to the islands’ countryside. Elsewhere, lower speed limits are intended to enhance the environment for those living there.”

This narrative can never be considered as a definitive conclusion, only indicative and the Parish themselves may be able to offer you more insight. You might wish to send a request for information to foi@parish.gov.je  or in writing to Parish FOI, East Wing, RJA & HS, Trinity, JE3 5PJ. You can also find out more about making an FOI request to the parishes at www.parish.gov/foi  

B

Copies of all correspondence discovered are available for you to view through the private Egress account mentioned in the response to part A above.

C

Final signage costs split between Government of Jersey’s Infrastructure Housing and Environment (IHE) department and the 4 parishes you have mentioned as part of your request are set out in the table below.

It is not possible for us to set out the design works costs in the time allowed under Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as this information would take longer than 12.5 hours to prepare.

D

Signs would either be reused, if in good condition, or recycled at the scrap yard. Some are returned to our road signs storage if in good enough condition to be used for future temporary road works.

E

Details of recorded speeding offences from 1 January 2020 to 16 Feb 2021 are shown for each of the roads where speed limits were changed on 14 December 2020:

Articles applied

Article 16 A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive

(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations.

Regulation 2 (1) of the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 allows an authority to refuse a request for information where the estimated cost of dealing with the request would exceed the specified amount of the cost limit of £500. This is the estimated cost of one person spending 12.5 working hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.