Cornwall Council’s cabinet is due to approve an updated Cornwall Road Safety Strategy next week, which aims to accelerate progress in reducing deaths and serious injuries on our roads.
It will include the conclusion of the £4m programme to reduce the speed limit to 20mph on residential roads and in built-up areas.
The 20mph limit already been completed in Falmouth and Penryn, Camelford, Camborne, Pool, Illogan and Redruth, West Penwith, Truro and the Roseland Peninsula, Cornwall Gateway and China Clay country.
Other areas currently being rolled out include Hayle and St Ives, St Austell and Mevagissey, Newquay and St Columb, Liskeard and Looe, Helston and South Kerrier, Bude and Launceston.
Additional areas coming on board in 2026 are Wadebridge and Padstow, Bodmin, Caradon, St Blazey, Fowey and Lostwithiel, and St Agnes and Perranporth.
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The council’s Lib Dem / Independent cabinet will hear at its meeting on Wednesday, May 6, that Cornwall Council and the Vision Zero South West Partnership remain committed to the goal of eliminating death and serious injury on our roads by 2040, supported by ambitious interim targets of a 50 per cent reduction in both by 2030.
A report to cabinet by transport officers states: “Targeted engineering schemes at high‑harm locations have reduced collisions and casualties, the Cornwall‑wide 20mph programme is demonstrating early positive outcomes and innovative enforcement activity is positively influencing road user behaviour.
“Despite this progress, further action is required to meet the 2030 targets and the longer-term Vision Zero goal. While numbers of total casualties have declined, the proportion of collisions resulting in death or serious injury remains a concern.”
The highest-risk groups continue to include young drivers, motorcyclists, older people and those using Cornwall’s extensive rural road network.
The council has set out an action plan guided by the internationally recognised Safe System:
- Safe roads and roadsides – Design, manage and maintain roads to reduce risk and protect all road users.
- Safe road users – Deliver education, engagement and behaviour change campaigns, and work with enforcement partners to promote safe road user behaviour.
- Safe speeds – Continue the Cornwall-wide 20mph programme, implement highway schemes which include speed management measures and support enforcement at priority sites.
- Safe vehicles – Promote vehicle safety standards through campaigns, respond to national consultations on vehicle safety and adopt procurement policies prioritising safer fleet vehicles.
- Post-crash response – Improve emergency response and collision investigation by working with partners and supporting initiatives such as the Government’s Road Safety Investigation Branch and IMPACT: The Centre for Post-Collision Response, Innovation and Translation.
In December 2025, the Government confirmed Cornwall’s four-year Local Transport Funding Settlement. This marks a significant shift in how local transport investment is structured, bringing together a number of previously separate streams, including Highway Maintenance, Local Transport Grant, Local Bus Grant and Active Travel funding into a single consolidated allocation funding totalling £285m to 2029/30.
Although this settlement does not include dedicated road safety funding, it provides Cornwall with far greater autonomy to prioritise investment where it will have the greatest local impact.
Using this flexibility, Cornwall Council intends to incrementally increase its investment in road safety between 2026/27 and 2029/30, reaching a total of £3m over the four-year period. This will enable significant progress in addressing the current backlog of collision cluster sites.
The four-year delivery plan will be recommended for approval by cabinet in June 2026.
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