Since 2004, Milton Keynes City Council has undertaken a widespread program of grid road downgrading without consultation or public approval, beginning with the 40mph speed limit imposed on V7 between H7-H9. In recent years, this program has accelerated. Speed limits have been reduced on close to 50% of the grid road network and dozens of signal-controlled junctions and crossings have been added to the system. We the undersigned believe that these changes are destroying the grid road network, which, together with the redway network, was designed to be a fast, free-flowing road system enabling easy travel across the city for cars, express buses, pedestrians, and cyclists.

We the undersigned believe that this policy has been adopted, contrary to widespread public opinion and without honest consultation, for three core reasons:

• To discourage car usage and encourage public transport usage by making the grid road network less attractive to motorists (rather than improving public transport provision), in accordance with an anti-motorist philosophy at the Council.
• To justify the assignment of single-use pockets of funding to Council departments for “safety interventions.”
• To avoid the expense of more substantial upgrades that the grid system has sorely needed since the ongoing upgrading of grid roads in line with city expansion ceased with the dualling of H8 at Shelshall West in 2001.

In response to City of the Future’s objection to the latest round of speed limit reductions, a Council officer confirmed that MKCC intends to continue speed limit reductions at the rate of 3-4 “interventions” per year, presumably until the entire grid road network has been downgraded. Further, the Council is proposing to implement a “mass rapid transit” system in the city. Far from being the fast, tram-style system the name implies, this will be a series of bus lanes joined together by at-grade signal-controlled junctions, justifying further grid road downgrades.

Because of the Council’s failure to upgrade and extend the grid road system in line with the city’s expansion, the network is now buckling under a larger volume of traffic than it can handle. This (combined with a decline in driver skill and discipline) is contributing to an increase in collisions, which the Council is using to justify further downgrading. This needs to stop immediately.

We the undersigned call on Milton Keynes City Council to:

• Immediately cease the current policy of widespread and ongoing grid road speed limit reductions under the guise of safety interventions.
• Immediately cease the current policy of installing new signal-controlled junctions and crossings on grid roads.
• Initiate an immediate review of all speed limit reductions implemented since 2004, beginning with the H7-H9 section of V7. This review should assess whether the speed limit reduction has had any effect on road safety and traffic flow. In cases where it has not made a measurable difference that cannot be attributed to another change, such as right-turn bans, the limit should be returned to 60mph, including any necessary alterations to lane geometry, islands, and markings to facilitate this.
• Establish objective criteria for a maximum acceptable number of serious collisions without requiring a safety intervention, recognising that zero collisions/casualties is not a reasonable or achievable goal.
• Revoke the adopted local transport plan and cancel the proposed “mass rapid transit” (bus rapid transit) system, which would involve further downgrading of grid roads and installation of signal junctions across the system.
• Redirect MRT funds into an urgent program of grid road upgrades to rectify 25 years of under-investment and bring grid road quality, safety, and capacity back into line with the expanding urban area population of Milton Keynes.
• As part of this program, identify roads and junctions which do have legitimate safety issues and prioritise these for upgrading. This should include dualling congested grid roads, installing pedestrian deterrent barriers and planting where pedestrian/vehicle collisions are occurring, introducing physically segregated free-flow left-turn lanes at roundabouts, providing longer deceleration and acceleration lanes at turnings, providing full-width right-turn lanes where these are currently missing, and replacing at-grade crossings with underpasses or footbridges.
• Where right-turn bans are needed and a grade-separated vehicular link does not exist across the grid road, examine the possibility of creating one by adapting an existing grade-separated pedestrian crossing.
• Initiate a city-wide upgrade of the redway network, priorising resurfacing, re-profiling of gradients, improvements to junctions, and separation of cyclists and pedestrians to make the system more attractive to cyclists currently using the grid roads.
• Refresh grid road signage, including all V/H road name plates, national speed limit repeater signs, and directional signage, and expand these to the post-2004 grid road extensions that have not received these signs. Further, introduce signage across the network reminding drivers to keep left on dual carriageways and signal their final destination at roundabouts, and instructing pedestrians to use underpasses and footbridges.
• Adopt as policy the principle that all future expansions of the urban area should include grid roads with grade-separated vehicular links between the estates on either side.
• Adopt as policy that signal-controlled junctions and crossings are not acceptable on the grid road network unless absolutely unavoidable. Establish a review into the removal of existing signal-controlled junctions and crossings.
• Adopt as policy the principle that express bus services should be provided on grid roads without negatively affecting other road users, using vehicles capable of rapidly achieving and maintaining at least 50mph, and supported by improvements to grid road bus stops, including longer bays, free-flow lanes, and increased acceleration/deceleration space.