To ask the Minister for Infrastructure why no schools in the North Down Constituency were included in the announcement made on 7 September 2020 concerning the roll out of 20mph speed limit schemes at 100 schools.

As Minister responsible for promoting and improving road safety, I want to work actively with partners to reduce death and serious injuries on our roads. I believe that reducing the maximum speed traffic can travel at on some of our roads, particularly those near schools, can help in this regard.

I am therefore delighted to have committed funding in this year’s capital budget towards introduction of part-time 20 mph speed limits at around 100 schools. These measures will increase driver awareness and achieve reductions in vehicle speeds outside and near these schools ensuring that parents, children and staff will be safer as they go to and from the schools on a daily basis.

I can confirm that all schools in the North Down area were assessed using the assessment framework contained within my Department’s current road safety at schools policy document. However, although none of the schools in the North Down area were ranked highly enough to be included within this year’s programme, it is my intention for this programme to be rolled out over the coming years and therefore other schools, including those in North Down, will be considered for inclusion in future programmes.