speedcam


COUNCIL SCRAPS ALL IT SPEED CAMERAS

A town council is planning to scrap its entire fleet of speed cameras from its roads in a groundbreaking fight-back against the ‘blatant tax on the motorist’.

Fed-up civic leaders have broken their silence about the controversial ‘cash cows’ and for the first time admit they boost Government coffers but not much else.

Town hall bosses revealed they don’t receive a penny from the fixed and temporary Gatsos, which are generating millions of pounds for the Treasury across the UK.

But now Swindon Borough Council in Wiltshire has decided to make the first public stand against the ‘money-making scheme’ by pulling out of a Government-run speed camera scheme.

The partnership, which joined the National Safety Camera Programme in April 2002, operates 16 fixed speed cameras, three red-light cameras, eight mobile vans and three motorcycles across Wiltshire.

But the council claims the £400,000 it pays into the partnership each year could be better spent on cheaper but more effective road safety schemes like sleeping policeman and vehicle-activated speed signs.

It is the first time that a council in the UK has publicly accused the Government of installing speed cameras to make money rather than prevent accidents.

Today councilor Peter Greenhalgh said: ‘We treat road safety very, very seriously.

‘But we pay about £400,000 a year to the partnership - money which goes straight into the Government’s pockets.

‘We don’t get anything back. Instead we feel this money should be spent on a range of local safety measures.’

Mr Greenhalgh, the Conservative member for highways, transport and strategic planning, added: ‘These are far more effective that speed cameras which, I feel, are a blatant tax on the motorist.

‘They are a very small part of our overall road safety measures and there are much more important things we as a council should do instead of acting as a law enforcement arm of this Government.’

The Conservative-run council is considering withdrawing from the Wiltshire and Swindon Safety Camera Partnership (WSSCP) next year.

It claims the Government allegedly refused to hand over the profits of the town’s fixed Gatsos and temporary hand-held cameras.

According to town hall bosses, the £60 penalty fine is ‘snatched’ by the Treasury, while the council does not receive a penny.

All councils in the UK are handed money from the Government to invest in partnerships such as the WSSCP.

But Swindon Borough Council said Government pressure makes it difficult to invest in alternative road safety schemes.

Mr Greenhalgh said it could use the £400,000 to install sleeping policemen, improved road cambers, and vehicle-activated speed signs which the council could install for just £5,000 each.

If the council pulled out of the WSSCP, it would be up to the partnership whether to carry on operating the cameras in Swindon without their financial contribution.

One outcome could be that the town would be left without any speed cameras on its roads.

Mr Greenhalgh said: ‘The Government expects councils like us to invest all the money into partnership schemes, but I think enough is enough.

‘They don’t expect anyone to challenge them, but our council has stood up to the challenge.’ But Labour MP Anne Snelgrove has accused council leaders of playing ‘politics with lives’ and has launched a campaign to retain the cameras.

At present, many of the town’s speed cameras are out of action because the council believes it should receive the revenue from speeding fines instead of the Government.

The MP for South Swindon said the removal of the cameras could see road accidents and deaths in the town soar.

Ms Snelgrove has now begun handing out leaflets with the slogan, “Hands off Our Speed Cameras’ to local residents.

Today, Ms Snelgrove said: ‘People’s lives should not be put at risk by withdrawing from the scheme.’

There has been one fatality and 21 injuries at a busy Swindon junction where a speed camera has been out of action for the past 18 months for technical reasons.

(Mail Online)