Thank you, thank you, thank you to every single one of you that signed. We’ve had a major breakthrough with our campaign.

Just before Christmas, myself and the team behind 30 For A Reason, sat down for a meeting with the Highways department and Barnsley Council leader Sir Stephen Houghton to discuss the campaign.

The main issue at the moment is additional strain on the police. The fear is if we reduced the speed limit today to 30mph and people are naturally travelling over 30mph, then police would be responsible for catching these people who are speeding. A more productive way is to design the roads so that people naturally travel at 30mph, then reduce the speed limit and this way, there will be less strain on the police.

The good news is that over the next 12 months, Highways are spending £1.4m on the A628 to naturally reduce speeds and they written to us saying they are moving forwards “WITH THE AIM OF SUPPORTING A REDUCTION IN THE SPEED LIMIT IN 12 MONTHS TIME”!

This is fantastic news that not only do we have the support of the people, councillors, MPs and Barnsley Council…but now also Highways!! The work is definitely not over and we haven’t been granted a 30mph speed limit yet, but we are definitely heading in that direction; and most importantly, with the support of Highways.

We really couldn’t have got to this stage without the support of every single person who signed and shared this petition to bring this to the forefront of Barnsley Council’s agendas, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. I’ll keep you updated if there are any further major break-throughs, but in the meantime, please raise a glass this New Years to being a community that really can make a difference.

Take care, stay safe and keep smiling,

George