Plans have been announced to create a camera partnership in the Northern Constabulary police force area in the Scottish Highlands. Safe Speed is raising objections.

This Safe Speed section is brand new and incomplete. We will be making very frequent updates.

Campaign Launch:

(Press and Journal) May 3rd 2004
(Press and Journal - online version) 3rd May 2004
 

On 7th May 2004 I received a reply from the Chief Constable to my letter of 2nd May . I am informed that my letter has been passed to Inspector Derrick Cronie, the Force Safety Camera Partnership Development Officer, who will reply in more detail. 

On 7th May 2004 the Police agreed to a meeting. I'll be meeting Superintendent John Darcy at Northern Constabulary Police Headquarters on 19th May 2004 at 2pm. 

(click here)

In a meeting of the "Resources" committee on 18th February 2004:

22. NORTHERN SAFETY CAMERA PARTNERSHIP 

There had been circulated Report No. RES21/04 dated 6th February 2004 by the Director of Corporate Services which described a proposal to develop a Northern Safety Camera Partnership and recommended that powers be delegated to the Director of Corporate Services, in consultation with the Chairman, to support the Council?s involvement in the scheme provided the Business Case showed the scheme to be viable. 

It was reported that the Northern Police Constabulary was seeking to form this partnership to promote a mobile safety camera scheme in the Highlands. The scheme operated on a basis of a partnership involving a number of bodies. The main objective of the partnership was to reduce the number of people killed or injured on Scottish roads by encouraging lower speeds at known accident areas and change long-term driver behaviour. This supported the Scottish Executive's targets for casualty reduction on Scottish roads by 2010. It was proposed that dedicated mobile speed camera units would be established in the Highlands. The units would cover the 50 sites which had been identified as meeting the speed/accident criteria set out in the guidelines for the scheme. The role of The Highland Council, including the District Court, was very significant and without its involvement the scheme was unlikely to go ahead. 

In order to establish whether a mobile safety camera scheme was viable work was currently ongoing to collect traffic and speed data. Once this data had been collected the potential income from fines could be estimated. Provided the scheme was successful and generated sufficient income through fines, there were no resource implications as the costs incurred by the Council would be covered through the scheme. The main risk for the Council was that the income generated from the fines failed to cover the cost of running the scheme, and there was no budget for such a loss. 

In discussion, those Members opposed to the system were of the view that it would do little for road safety and that the Council would have to bear the financial risk of operating the scheme. They also felt that other measures could be used to improve road safety, including engineering roads to slow people down at known blackspots and also speed activated signing. 

Those in favour of establishing a business case for the mobile safety camera were reluctant to rule out any system which might reduce accidents. Therefore they felt there was merit in exploring the viability of mobile safety cameras on a trial basis. 

Following further discussion, Mrs A L Magee, seconded by Mr D W Briggs moved to support the Council's involvement in the Northern Safety Camera Partnership Scheme on a trial basis with a report back on the outcome, provided the business case demonstrated the scheme to be viable. In the event that the scheme was shown not to be viable the Council would withdraw support. 

As an Amendment, Mr D C M Flear, seconded by Mr W J Smith moved for a report back to Committee following a comprehensive investigation into road safety measures for Highland, such as the use of speed activated signing, in order to determine where and how money could be invested to improve road safety. 

On a vote being taken, the outcome was as follows: 

For the Motion:                  For the Amendment: 

Mr D M Mackay                 Mr DCM Flear 
Mr T C Jackson                Mr W N Fernie 
Mrs A L Magee                  Mr A Torrance 
Mr D W Briggs                  Mr J R Connell 
Mrs I McCallum                 Mr J Ford 
Dr D Alston                       Mr W J Smith 
Mr I MacDonald                 Mrs G McCreath 
Mrs E MacRae                  Mr A Gordon 
Mrs J N Home                   Mr F D S Black 
Mrs K G Matheson            Mr B J Murphy 
Mr J N Matheson 
Mr A R McFarlane-Slack 

The Motion was carried by 12 votes to 10. 

Decision 

It was therefore AGREED to delegate powers to the Director of Corporate Services, in consultation with the Chairman, to support the Council's involvement in the Northern Safety Camera Partnership Scheme on a trial basis with a report back on the outcome, provided the business case demonstrated the scheme to be viable. In the event that the scheme was shown not to be viable the Council would withdraw support.

The effect of this decision was to give power to create the partnership to two men:

Mr A B Dodd, Director of Corporate Services and
Mr J N Matheson, Committee Chairman.

No further council vote is necessary. 

Chief Inspector Arnott (click here)
Chief Constable Ian Latimer (click here)
Highland Council, Director of Corporate services, Mr A B Dodd (click here) 

Initial Public Meeting:

• Thistle Hotel, Inverness, Thursday 13th May 2004, doors open 7pm.
• Paul Smith will present the case: "Why and how speed cameras cost lives".
• The Highland Council and Northern Constabulary will be invited to send representatives
• There will be plenty of time for questions

Information for local media (click here)
Safe Speed forum section for local issues (click here)
See throughout the Safe Speed web site (front page)
Contact Safe Speed by email: (click here)
Members of the Highland Council "Transport, Environmental and Community Services Committee" (click here)
 

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