Monday September 8th 2025
20mph sign on Dalhousie Road near Eskbank Station in Dalkeith
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
In May Midlothian Council began to roll out new 20mph speed limits across towns and villages in the area with more than 800 streets having their speed limits now reduced.
Fully funded through Transport Scotland’s Road Safety Improvement Fund, the council’s decision followed support from local residents during a public consultation held in November 2022, where many backed the idea of lowering speed limits.
Despite the consultation support, a petition has now been set up to try and get the Midlothian Council to re-think their 20mph policy, gaining around 890 signatures since Friday.
The petition states that ‘the rollout of a 20mph limit across Midlothian has been done without proper consultation by the council’ and ‘anyone asked if they would support a plan to reduce RTA’s would probably say yes and almost everyone would agree that 20mph in some areas is a good thing but some, especially near schools are only needed for a few hours a day and not needed during holiday periods’.
Councillors voted unanimously to approve the changes at a full Council meeting on 27 June 2023 but more recently, at a Cabinet meeting on the 20th of May 2025, objections raised during a February 2025 consultation were reviewed and none were upheld.
At the time when the speed limits were beginning to be rolled out, Midlothian Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport, Councillor Colin Cassidy said:
“The new speed limits aim to make roads safer for everyone – drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians alike. Slower speeds are expected to encourage more walking and cycling, support local communities, and help create more welcoming and active neighbourhoods. Early data shows vehicle speeds are already coming down in areas where the 20mph limit has been introduced. The council will continue to monitor traffic to see how effective the changes are.”
Aiming to improve road safety, the decision has caused issues for Midlothian residents and so the petition which started on Friday has already gained traction, with signatories agreeing with the petition’s proposition that ‘all main roads should revert to 30mph and where there is a school this should be reduced to 20mph at appropriate times of the day with additional signage’.
The petition was created after many posts on local Midlothian Facebook groups were from people complaining about the new speed limits. Posted to both ‘What’s on in Dalkeith’ and ‘What’s happening in Woodburn and Dalkeith’, locals raised their issues with the council’s road safety decision.
One post on the 22nd of August read, “The ‘Nanny State’ comes to Dalkeith. The rollout of the 20mph limit in Dalkeith seems to be quite farcical with little intelligent thought behind it”, gaining 86 commented replies which mainly agreed and expressed opinions on the limits.
The petition was started by local resident, Dave McInnes, after noticing the complaining on the Facebook groups. He explained:
“I started the petition after a couple of posts on two Dalkeith facebook pages complaining about the blanket 20mph limit being imposed by Midlothian council without full consultation.
“The comments on the two facebook posts reached well over 100 very quickly with most people agreeing that 20mph should be in some areas, near schools, shops and busy pedestrian areas, but not everywhere. Everyone wants safer roads but there are better ways than just taking an easy option regardless.
“The council published a document “Midlothian 20mph Speed Limit Review” which showed maps of the different areas where a 20mph limit was going to be imposed. The maps on this document showed that the main roads would remain 30mph but they are now 20mph which makes no sense.
“Why haven’t they stuck to the plan outlined in this document? It is my opinion that the council simply couldn’t be bothered to think this through so just imposed 20mph everywhere.”
“Edinburgh council have imposed a lot of 20mph limits but left the main routes 30mph, far more sensible than Midlothian.”
The petition can be found HERE.
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