A council has defended its £500,000 rollout of reduced speed limits after coming under fire from critics who claim the money would be better spent elsewhere.

Calderdale Council said there had been a 22 per cent reduction in injuries in all 20mph areas since the rollout started.

The local authority was responding to opposition councillors, who said the limits were a waste of money and urged the Council to review the restrictions to measure their effectiveness.

The debate had been reignited by a new report from Bath and North East Somerset Council, which has also introduced a raft of 20mph zones. In that area, there had been an increase in the rate of deaths and serious injuries in seven of the 13 new zones.

The report said: “There is no simple explanation for this adverse trend but it could be that local people perceive the area to be safer due to the presence of the 20 mph restrictions and thus are less diligent when walking and crossing roads, cycling or otherwise travelling.”

The 20 mph limits have been rolled-out in areas including Brighouse, Bailiff Bridge, Lightcliffe, Shelf and Northowram.

In Brighouse, the limits were introduced in June, and Conservative Brighouse Councillor Howard Blagbrough branded them a waste of money. He said: “I think what has happened is a lot of people on the side streets are just ignoring them as the limit is not as enforceable as a 30mph limit.

“The limits have been put on some ridiculous streets; on some you can’t even get up to 20mph and others are practically main roads. I didn’t agree with the scheme in the first place, an awful lot of money has been spent on them, while the road gritting budget has been cut which I think would be a more effective way of increasing road safety.

“I don’t think it has had a positive impact, in fact I think people get more frustrated by it, and another difficulty caused by it is you spend more time watching your speedometer to make sure you aren’t speeding rather than watching the road. I think the Council needs to have another look at this.”

Cllr Stephen Baines (Conservative, Northowram & Shelf) said the lower limits were a “false saving”.

He said: “The money spent on the new limit would have been much better spent on the gritting runs, as it has been absolute chaos these past two weeks.The Council ought to review the scheme, we said all along it is a false saving and does not reduce speed that much. Most sensible drivers obey the limit but you get drivers trying to push you to go quicker all the time so you can understand there are sometimes more accidents.”

Cllr Faisal Shoukat, Labour-led Calderdale Council’s cabinet member for public health and inequalities, said: “We started introducing 20mph speed limits in Calderdale’s residential areas in 2014, to help make our streets safe and pleasant wherever we live and however we travel. This was also in response to residents’ concerns about road safety and speeding traffic, and to encourage more active ways of travelling, like walking and cycling. Reducing speeds is known to decrease the number of collisions and the severity of any injuries. We have seen a 22 per cent reduction in injuries in all 20mph areas since the rollout started. On the basis of our encouraging statistics we have now completed the rollout and will continue to monitor the impacts and residents’ feedback. We expect to produce an updated report on impacts by the end of March 2018.”