Westminster’s petrolhead Tories exposed again

Dr Helen Walters, the new director of public health for Westminster, has written to council chiefs, urging them to reopen the case for bringing the speed limit down to 20mph on residential roads.

Dr Walters said a lower limit would also help the fight against soaring child obesity levels in Westminster, where more than a quarter of 11-year-olds are putting their health at risk.

Opposition leaders have seized on Dr Walters’s comments, saying the council can no longer ignore the weight of medical evidence that supports the scheme.

In a letter accompanying the latest child health profile for the borough, Dr Walters wrote: “The profile rightly highlights our high child obesity rates and poor oral health. It also highlights the high rates of road traffic accidents.