Thursday 10 July 2014

Don't rush the safety cameras

Safety cameras in Central Bedfordshire - see this update from CBC's Cllr Brian Spurr, executive Member for Sustainable Communities Services and Cllr David Hopkin deputy executive nember for corporate resources and lead member for localism to parish councils. As with the consultation I previously blogged about being in the holiday period,  the registration of interest plus collation of evidence and any allocation of financial support must be done by 31 August. We do not meet in August, key personnel e.g. police may be on leave and we need a debate on locations. I think 30 September would be better.
 



At the Town & Parish Council Conference we gave an undertaking to clarify the information provided in the Safety Camera letter dated 22 Apr 2014.
 

In 2014/15 we have been successful in bidding for £750k of capital funding and this will be used as follows:

There are 36 existing camera sites that contain wet film. We are undertaking a review of these sites and the associated traffic data. It is anticipated that we will upgrade these sites to digital over the next few years. The review will allow us to prioritise the sites as well as determine whether they remain a traditional fixed site, average speed site or the camera housing is left but unmaintained. We have allocated £350k to this work in 2014/15 which will upgrade approximately 10 of the sites. The remaining sites will be the subject of a further capital bid in 2015/16 and beyond. There is no town/parish council contribution required for these sites.


We have committed to provide 2 new camera sites; these are in Poynters Road, Dunstable and Soulbury Road, Leighton- Linslade. We have allocated £150k to this work but the details are yet to be finalised.
    There is a further £250k for new sites. It is this part of the funding which we are seeking to work in partnership with local communities to identify new sites that meet the following criteria:
a. Written support from both the town/parishcouncil and ward member(s)
 

b. Evidence of a traffic casualty or speed problem. The limited funds that we have are targeted at known casualty sites
 

Your ref: Our ref:    PF/jw/140422 Date:    08/07/2014
taking the latest 3 year’s data into account. For us to consider speed sites the only evidence that can be used is that from the police’s own traffic management unit and no other. Camera enforcement is not the only way to solve problems with traffic speed, and evidence that education and engineering works cannot be carried out, or have been done and there is still a problem, will also need to be considered.
 

c.    Support from the police camera partnership representatives. 

d. Suitable location. 

e. Suitable 3G mobile network services in the vicinity or a secure ADSL line.

f.    A financial contribution from the town/parish council.
 

In order to keep the costs to a minimum it is anticipated that town/parish councils may work together to come up with locations where a number of sites are identified that can share a camera. Each site would have a fixed casing and an intelligent flash, so it would behave in the same way with or without the camera thereby achieving the speed reduction for the least cost. Data on traffic speeding will be recorded on a memory card that can be downloaded and analysed by the police. However, prosecutions would only be possible when the camera is in situ.
 

The police are responsible for the moving of the camera and although they would listen to requests to regularly move the camera ultimately it is a matter for the police as to where the camera would be located at any one time.
 

Please register your interest in a new camera site by providing the details of any locations that you would like considered, together with the evidence requested in a. to f. above or a date when this will be provided. 

Details should be sent by 31st August 2014.
 



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