Senior Ceredigion councillors have backed Welsh Government speed reductions on many of the county’s roads, despite many letters of objection.

The Welsh Government passed legislation last July which will see the speed limit on residential, built-up streets reduced from 30mph to 20 throughout Wales from September.

Welsh Government says the 20mph default speed limit is expected to result in 40 per cent fewer road collisions, save six to 10 lives every year and avoid 1,200- 2,000 people being injured.

There are no roads with restricted status in Ceredigion; the change is being introduced through the Traffic Regulation Order process.

This meant the council needed to conduct formal consultation with the public on all proposed new speed limit arrangements.

Across Ceredigion, approximately 370 locations were proposed for changes.

That saw 76 items of correspondence received, including 54 objections – just over 70 per cent of all responses – a report for members of the June 6 meeting of Ceredigion County Council’s Cabinet said.

The rest were either expressions of support or requests that are outside the scope of this scheme, such as lowering existing 40mph limits at settlements.

Presenting the report to Cabinet, Ceredigion Cabinet Member for Highways and Environmental Services and Carbon Management Councillor Keith Henson noted the objections, which included: “I feel that this is a process of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. The Welsh Government have approached this in a dictatorial style, basically, ‘you’re having it, tough’.”

He added: “If you look at this in its entirety it’s a matter of safety,” adding: “If we can save one life from this process, we’ve done our job as a council.”

Cllr Elizabeth Evans, who supported the reductions, cited an existing 20mph limit in her ward of Aberaeron, saying it was important there was enough manpower to enforce any changes in speed limits.

Llandysilio and Llangrannog member Cllr Gareth Lloyd said many of the concerns raised were from the “blanket approach” of speed limits, rather than targeting individual problem areas.

“A lot of the negatives towards the scheme are because of this blanket approach; it’s a shame the [Welsh Government] has not looked at this individually.”

Specific areas highlighted included Adpar, Bow Street, Borth, Dihewyd, Drefach, Llechryd, Pennant, Penparc, and Stags Head, with several petitions presented.

Cabinet members backed a request to authorise recommended replies to public consultation responses and requests for additional changes received, and to proceed with implementation of changes being introduced by the Welsh Government.

A debate on the implementation of 20mph zones in September will take place in the Senedd after a petition titled 'Stop the change of speed limits to 20mph on 17th September' gained more that 21,000 signatures.

The petition was closed early so that the matter could be discussed before the change is implemented.

The petition says: "This decision is not representative of the broader public opinion and as such, it is not democratic to implement the changes.

"An alteration to road laws on this scale should be subject to much more extensive polling or possibly as part of a Welsh referendum on the matter."