Agenda item

·       My Wilts App – FAQ sheet attached

·        HRC Booking Link - Book a visit to a household recycling centre - Wiltshire Council

·       Speed Cameras

·       Local Plan Review – Paper attached.

The Chairman made the following announcements:

·       Open Reach was working hard to deliver fibre optic to residents. Residents could register their interest to sign up to the connectivity if installed in their area. This could be done at Wiltshire online.

·       Thanks to the Waste Collection crews who had continued to provide an amazing service to households throughout the pandemic.

·       Covid Scams – be aware of the number of scams being circulated regarding the vaccination programme. 

·       My Wilts App – FAQ sheet attached to the agenda

·       HRC Booking Link - Book a visit to a household recycling centre - Wiltshire Council

Speed Cameras – the folowing questions and comments were raised:

Q – Mr Derryman who was a member of Stoford & South Newton PC, noted that speeding regularly occurred along the A36. The PC was setting up a Community Speedwatch (CSW) group and had 7 volunteers. He stated that at a time when there were many accidents, continued speeding and deaths, he did not understand why the cameras in Wiltshire were not operational.

Q - Mr Mitchell of Tollard Royal PC stated that it was mind blowing as to why the speed cameras in Wiltshire were not switched on. With regards to road safety, when the government ceased funding the scheme, all other counties continued with the speed camera scheme apart from Wiltshire. When our PC had visits from the Police, they were short, one visit was for 20 minutes at a time when there was little traffic.

Cllr Wayman - Other councils also withdrew funding to speed cameras, it was just that other Police forces decided to proceed with it and fund themselves. Wiltshire Police decided they could not do it. Wiltshire Police had invested in a mobile camera unit. Cllr Wayman hoped that unit would be seen around the county. Almost all communities complained of speeding through their villages. The mobile unit needed to be moved around to catch the speeders.

Jerry Herbert, Deputy PCC - One of his responsibilities was Road Safety. Cllr Wayman and he were in regular discussion on what could be done to improve the situation. The static camera issue was not well understood, much of the cost to run a safety camera partnership fell on local resources, however the revenue did not come back to the force. That was why the decision of the two local authorities was made not to continue funding it and it was then discontinued, some 8 or 9 years ago.  The Police line from the force and the Commissioner was that to reactivate the cameras there would need to be a degree of consent of the local authority and a degree of investment of the council.

Generally speaking, targeted mobile enforcement was generally a better way of dealing with static road cameras. Many road users knew where the static cameras were places and therefore they did not contribute to a wider level road safety. 

The Chief Constable had made proposals to increase the numbers of Officers dedicated to Road Safety duties from the next financial year. We were moving in the right direction and I expect to see an increase in local mobile enforcement in the next 12 month or so.

Mr Derryman – thank you Jerry for visiting in December to discuss this in detail. I am delighted to hear of the investment and response on A36. The response I had had following an article I wrote for the parish magazine was very good. Please to see the future investment in this locally and if it needed central government to send money back to local councils then that would need to be looked at as well.

Cllr Wayman - As far as she was aware, Wiltshire Council would not be supportive financially. I think South Newton and Stoford was the only area with a static camera not functioning in its built-up area.

It all came down to the three E’s, Education Enforcement and Engineering, in road safety. We look regularly at the accident black spots. Education is hugely important. The Coroner reports 99% of deaths on the road were due to driver error, whether that was speeding or other mistakes.

Cllr Jeans - The statistics alone did not justify the expenditure unfortunately, but locally it was very frightening and puts people off from walking along the road where there was no pavement. He encouraged local PCs to write to the companies of the large vehicles. A certain amount of money should be spent on Police resources. The noise was another issue.

Jerry Herbert – We mention quite often about the Fatal Four, speed is only one aspect. Other main reasons that tended to cause accidents were drink and drug driving, distraction around the use of handheld devices and final point was those not wearing seatbelts or wearing them incorrectly. Something could be done about drink and drugs. We were lobbying the government on a change in the law on handheld devices. Finally, Lorry Watch schemes were an option for areas where large vehicles were not obeying the weight limits.

Cllr Church - As local member for South Newton & Stoford, I am new to the concept of static cameras coming back, I don’t understand the underlying reasons at the time or the economic reasons now, and would like to explore that with Jerry and Cllr Wayman outside of the meeting. If the automatic infrastructure was already in place, if activated it may free up some of the resources from the Police.

I am also the Cabinet member for Finance and confirm that there was no funding in the 2021/22 years budget for roads safety cameras.

Local Plan Review and Gypsy and Traveller Consultation

A paper was attached to the agenda which contained meeting dates and links to contribute to the consultations. Cllr Wayman drew attention to the online meetings to be held in February, adding that they were an important piece of public consultation and urged those interested to submit their views.