Almost a year to the day after the 20mph speed limit was introduced, North Wales Police were unable to produce evidence that the law has reduced casualties.

Police chiefs were grilled by a committee of councillors at a North Wales Police and Crime Panel on Monday, where North Wales Police’s Crime Commissioner Andy Dunbobbin and Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman said they were unable to provide, or hadn’t seen, evidence that the 20mph speed limit had reduced casualties.

Cllr Bithell, who sits on the panel, raised the Welsh Government allocating £5m to reassess the speed limit on 20mph roads earlier this summer, referring to it as a ‘review’.

“I’m just wondering to what extent, if any, the 20mph zones have had in terms of accidents in North Wales and serious accidents in particular,” he said.

“Is there any evidence (of a reduction) has been a result of this? I’m getting a lot of messages. I think a lot of other councillors probably are too in terms of the review that’s going on.

“Many people welcomed this (the review) and they didn’t want the 20mph zones in the first place, but again, I’m getting communications from people concerned about us going back to the 30mph limit in certain areas.”

Mr Dunbobbin said: “With the 20mph and the impact that has had, I haven’t got those figures to hand.

“I’m not sure if the Chief Constable would be able to provide a more substantive answer to that question, but unfortunately I haven’t got that to hand at this moment.”

Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman commented: “With the 20mph, the majority of our enforcement of it has been around the areas you would expect and anticipate for us to be doing – in schools, those areas that are very vulnerable, and obviously from a feedback point of view, it has been a really challenging and difficult area that has been an ongoing engagement with communities.

“In terms of being able to identify whether it has made a difference to road casualties, we would have to go away and have a look at that. I haven’t got any evidence of that at this time.

“I would say a lot of our serious road traffic collisions happen on our fast roads.

“But at this moment in time, there is nothing I’ve seen in all the reports I’ve had that has indicated that to be the case.”