Statutory Instrument 2026 No. 980 makes a targeted change to the M5. The legislation.gov.uk text shows that the Secretary of State is revoking the 2022 regulations which imposed a 60 miles per hour limit between junctions 1 and 3, and on slip roads at junctions 1 and 2. This is not a fresh restriction. It is the legal step that removes the earlier local limit. Once the revocation takes effect, the Explanatory Note says the national motorway speed limit will again apply on the affected stretch.
The commencement timetable is clear on the face of the instrument. The Regulations were made on 4 September 2026, laid before Parliament on 7 September 2026 and come into force on 4 October 2026. The instrument is signed by Justin Madders, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Transport. For readers following transport regulation, that sequence confirms a standard piece of secondary legislation rather than a wider primary law change.
The legal powers cited are section 17(2), (3) and (3ZB) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. The text also records that the Secretary of State consulted representative organisations in accordance with section 134(2) of that Act before making the Regulations. That procedural record matters. It shows the Department for Transport is presenting the revocation as a routine exercise of its statutory powers over a special road, with the consultation requirement formally addressed in the instrument itself.
In practical terms, the change is narrow but important for compliance. From 4 October 2026, the specific 60mph rule created by the 2022 instrument will no longer govern this part of the M5 or the named slip roads. For motorists, freight operators and those responsible for route planning, the key point is that the local cap falls away on the commencement date. The Regulations remove the bespoke limit; they do not rewrite the wider national motorway speed limit regime.
The Explanatory Note says no full impact assessment has been produced because no, or no significant, effect on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. A De Minimis Assessment and an Explanatory Memorandum are being published alongside the Regulations on legislation.gov.uk. That assessment points to a modest policy effect. The Department for Transport is treating the measure as a contained adjustment to an existing traffic order rather than a broader shift in national speed policy.
One drafting point may stand out to non-specialist readers. The Regulations extend to England and Wales and Scotland, even though the operative change concerns a defined section of the M5. In legislative terms, territorial extent and real-world application are not the same question. The legal text uses the standard extent formula for this category of instrument, while the substantive effect is confined to the motorway section identified in the Regulations. For policy and legal teams, the date that matters is 4 October 2026, when the 2022 60mph order ceases to have effect.