Proposals to introduce a blanket 20mph speed limit in areas north of the A406 using traffic calming measures are "flawed" and "driven by a political agenda", claim Waltham Forest's Conservative party.

Residents are being asked if they support council plans to improve road safety by installing hundreds of road humps, speed cushions and 20mph signs in the Highams Park, Larkswood and north of the Valley ward area.

The plan is part of the council's ambition to make all residential streets 20mph and halve the number of people injured in road accidents by 2020.

The consultation document outlines a map of the traffic calming measures and lists statistics of survival rates at different speeds, and the number of serious and fatal accidents (174) across the borough in the past three years.

In response, residents for and against have launched their own poster campaigns in the Highams Park area after parents in were angered by the local Ratepayers Action Group's (RAG) 'Say NO to 20mph poster'.

Opposition leader councillor Matt Davis, has now hit out at the overall borough-wide plans, claiming they are "flawed? and driven by Clyde Loakes's personal prejudices and desire to do whatever the local cycling campaigners want, however wrong, and not by the hard evidence available elsewhere from existing schemes.

He continues: "The current consultation is a particularly poor one, even by Waltham Forest's low standards, ?and appears to be designed to reach as few residents as possible, whilst allowing the council to claim that it has undertaken the requisite statutory consultation.

"At a time when our roads and pavements are in their worst condition ever, it is beggars belief that he thinks this is a good use of limited resources when it will increase accidents, worsen air quality and mostly not be enforced either."

A Freedom of Information (FoI) request released by Islington Council in 2014, showed that a year after the 20mph borough-wide scheme was introduced, the average speed reduced by 1mph.

Councillor Loakes, told the Guardian: "Waltham Forest’s 20mph scheme has been in place for some years now and pre-dates the council’s Mini-Holland funding.

"The statistics speak for themselves.

"Since the introduction of the 'Safe Streets for London' strategy of 20mph zones across London there has been a 53 per cent reduction in killed or seriously injured causalities".

The proposed measures were drawn up following recent accident data and traffic speed surveys undertaken earlier this year.

The deadline to respond is October 12.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

Parents and schoolchildren show their support for the 20mph scheme outside Tesco in Highams Park