A campaign for a blanket citywide 20mph speed limit is being cranked up by the Green Party in the wake of concern about road safety, flooding and other issues.

New 20mph zones have been introduced in 50 streets in the city centre as part of a pilot scheme to test the effectiveness of cutting speed limits in residential strets.

Now Green Party members Jill Mills and Jack Easton are spearheading a 20’s Plenty campaign to take in all residential areas in what, they stress, is a non-political campaign.

20’s Plenty has been introduced to towns around Britain and there is evidence that it reduces traffic accidents and congestion as well as improving the local economy and community life.

Research from other historic towns including York, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford, Chichester and Bath shows that when the limits were introduced, the tourist economy increased – largely because of quieter and safer streets.

Traffic has been found to flow better and footfall increases where speed is reduced.

The Greens maintain that changes in driving behaviour result in reduced pollution, including carbon emissions, which are driving the climate changes perceived to be behind the recent flooding.

They argue that the limits are cheaper to introduce than other traffic calming measures such as road humps and chicanes which disrupt the flow of traffic and reduce parking space.

Jill said: “St Albans is an ideal town for 20’s Plenty since there are clear entry points on roads onto the city and signage would be simple.

“We can see there is reliable evidence that it works and it will make our district a better place to live.”

They are hoping to persuade the district council to implement the wider scheme and a petition has been set up at www.20splentyforstalbans.moonfruit.com