Port St Mary has become the first village in the island to introduce a blanket 20mph zone.

Signs have been installed to reflect new 20mph speed limits on the village’s residential roads.

It marks the first project in a phased scheme to be rolled out across all the island’s towns and villages over the next two years.

In a post on its Facebook page, the Department of Infrastructure said: ‘Reducing traffic speeds in residential areas is seen as an important step towards improving people’s quality of life and creating streets that are safe and inclusive.’

No new traffic calming measures will be implemented under the initiative.

Schools are included in the strategy and will see existing signs replaced in addition to the installation of flashing lights to highlight when drivers should take extra care.

Calls have been made in recent years for Scoill Phurt le Moirrey to be protected by a 20mph zone, with Tynwald told it came top of the list for risk to children’s road safety.

As the 20mph programme is rolled out, the department says it will publicise the next area to be covered and maps will be published online illustrating the streets/roads affected.

Following the completion of the work in Port St Mary, the next phase of the strategy will see changes introduced in Douglas and Onchan.

Residents in Port St Mary have broadly welcomed the new speed limit - but pointed out that it’s hard to drive even at 20mph along the village’s crumbling High Street.

Tynwald approved a motion by Douglas Central MHK Ann Corlett in February 2023 for the default speed limit to be 20mph in all residential areas, with priority placed on reviewing areas directly around schools.

During that debate Port St Mary resident, Speaker of the House of Keys Juan Watterson, questioned the need for a blanket speed limit rather than just a zone around the school, given that average speeds through the village, as measured by the DoI, were 23mph.

He criticsed ‘a group of bureaucrats who thought they knew better’, and said he didn’t want the port ‘littered’ with signs and roundels. adding: ‘We do not actually have a problem in the first place.’

Infrastructure Minister Michelle Haywood, a former Port St Mary Commissioner, says the stalled project to reconstruct the High Street can proceed once an agreement is reached on how to dispose of asphalt waste containing potentially hazardous coal tar.

She posted: ‘I am as frustrated as anyone but I am actively working on getting the coat tar waste problem sorted and unlock progress on this and a dozen or so other projects around the island that have stalled because we know CTW is a class 1 carcinogen.

‘It’s ok if left in situ but has to be carefully handled and stored if we dig it up.’

A 20-mph zone was introduced in 2022 in Ramsey town centre along Parliament Street, Market Square, Derby Road and West Quay.