Saddleworth North Liberal Democrat Councillor Garth Harkness is proposing a motion to the next full meeting of Oldham Council (Wednesday 20 March) asking for further measures to be adopted to tackle speeding across the borough, including in his own ward.

Councillor Harkness first asked for action in a letter sent last September to the Deputy Leader of the Council, Councillor Arooj Shah. Unfortunately six months on, nothing seems to have changed.

Councillor Harkness said: “Speeding is one of those issues that every ward councillor receives complaints about on a regular basis, yet action on this issue by this Labour Administration seems so slow. In contrast, the Liberal Democrats seek action on road safety issues.”

“We have previously proposed 30mph zones on residential streets but, after a long look by the Overview and Scrutiny Board, nothing happened, and more recently we proposed Lorry Watch schemes to tackle irresponsible truck drivers using the wrong Sat Navs and blocking our villages.”

“I now hope that Council will adopt this motion and look to introduce more community led anti-speeding schemes backed by roadside cameras to catch offenders.”

The motion reads:

Council notes that speeding continues to be a factor in road collisions and that a pedestrian is four times more likely to die if they are hit by a vehicle travelling at forty miles per hours than they are at 30mph.

It is therefore imperative that Council working with the Police and residents seek to reduce excessive vehicular speeds in this borough, especially outside schools, on minor residential roads and in rural areas.

Council believes that we should work with our residents’ groups to deter and catch offenders and that we should employ mobile technology in order to do so.

Council therefore resolves to ask the Overview and Scrutiny Board to:

• Identify, with the assistance of District Executives, local police and the Council’s highways officers, locations not currently equipped with a speed camera which might benefit from one for consideration by the Drive Safe Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership.
• Explore the availability of funding to purchase and deploy mobile speed cameras to catch offenders, change driver behaviour and improve road safety.
• Investigate how the Council and the police can work with community and residents’ groups to establish Community Speed Watch schemes and Community Concern speed enforcement sites in the Borough
• Explore the merits of establishing ‘bus gates’ at suitable sites outside schools and look at establishing a pilot project. (‘Bus gates’ limit vehicular through traffic outside schools to cycles and local buses at the start and end of the school day, with a fixed penalty for transgressors.)

Proposed by:                                                              Seconded by:

Councillor Garth Harkness                                          Councillor Hazel Gloster