Costs incurred
The 20mph programme for Cambridgeshire villages is a County Council (CCC) initiative with a budget of £350,000 for the current round. From that budget, the Burwell scheme has been allocated £27000.
If the scheme for Burwell does not go ahead, the unused CCC funds would be made available to another village (there is a queue of villages awaiting funding for 20mph schemes). Department for Transport funding provided to local councils can only be spent on its defined purpose; this means that CCC, East Cambs District Council and Burwell Parish Council would not be able to spend the unused funds pothole repairs, other highway maintenance or traffic calming measures.
Costs avoided
The Department for Transport has estimated the average cost of collisions as follows (2023 data):
- £2.25m per fatal collision
- £289,949 per serious collision
- £29,127 per slight collision
The figures include the cost of medical, ambulance and police services, insurance and admin, lost output and damage to property. In Burwell, between 2018 and 2023 there were 13 slight collisions and 2 serious collisions (see "Collisions in Burwell" FAQ).. Of course, the impact is not just financial - there are also the physical and emotional consequences.
We don't know the extent to which excess speed was the cause of those collisions, but speed is often recorded as a contributory factor in police reports (see Road Safety FAQ), and it is expected that introducing a 20mph limit will reduce collisions.
Sources
Collisions
Burwell Budget
Cambridge County Council background information