More equipment on the way to clamp down on speeding vehicles

congletonrd

In an attempt to cut down on the volume of vehicles speeding through the village, Alderley Edge Parish Council has agreed to purchase an addition speed indicator device (SID).

Speaking at the Parish Council meeting on Monday, 13th February, Councillor Craig Browne recommended the purchase and presented three options to the members.

He explained "I have been approached by several residents who have raised concerns about speeding vehicles on the stretch of Congleton Road and it's a particularly sensitive location close to the sheltered accommodation at Woodlands Court, the blind junction at Hazelcroft Gardens and also the bus stops on both side of the road."

A speed indicator device was placed on Congleton Road, close to the junction with Beechfield Road, for two weeks in September and it collected data from 13,781 vehicles. The average speed of these vehicles was 33.6mph, the highest recorded speed was 71mph and 76% of all vehicles were travelling over the speed limit of 30mph, whilst 10.2% were traveling faster that 40mph.

Councillor Craig Browne said "Further information that I have obtained from the police shows that 38 speedwatch letters were issued in September at this location. Further, the police carried out something just before Christmas called Operation Sparkle, which in December resulted in five notices being issued at this location. This was the highest number at a single location across the Macclesfield Local Policing Area. The highest speed the police recorded was 57mph.

"A further two notices were issued at the same time for mobile phone use whilst driving, so in response to this I have researched several options to purchase a new speed indicator device for the use of this location."

Councillors considered quotes for three options. The first of which was to purchase a permanent speed limit device which displays the 30 limit sign as people drive towards it with flashing lights. The total cost, including a solar panel, data recorder and the installation of post in the pavement (at a cost of £1500) would be £4875 which was considered "rather a lot for one device".

The alternative presented was for the Parish Council to purchase a battery powered mini display unit at £1850, which is small enough to be attached to one of the existing lamp columns so there would be no need to install a new post. The total cost including spare battery, charger, data recorder and mounting clips would be £2275 if the Parish Council installed themselves or £2425.50 if they paid a company to install.

The Parish Council's third option was to purchase two of the mini units at either £4490 or £4790, if they paid for installation.

Councillor Craig Browne said "If we were to buy two then one unit could be placed permanently on Congleton Road and the second unit, being removable, could be used around the village in response to demand."

The Parish Council already has one SID, which was purchased about 4 years but the technology has since moved on quite considerably.

Councillor Geoff Hall commented "We will have a much more fixed picture of where the finances are by the end of this year because we will have completed all the build work, hopefully we will have completed the refurbishment here (at the Festival hall) and we will have all three tenants in place upstairs and the facilities management in place so it is an alternative option perhaps for the Council to consider whether it wants to go with two now or whether it wants to purchase one now and delay the purchase of the second one."

Parish councillors agreed to purchase one of the mini devices now and delay the purchase of the second for six months to enable them to ascertain its effectiveness.

Tags:
Alderley Edge Parish Council, Congleton Road, Speeding
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Malcolm Gatley
Tuesday 14th February 2017 at 1:27 pm
Good BUT vehicles also speed right through the village
David Hadfield
Tuesday 14th February 2017 at 2:24 pm
What a load of nonsense.

Do you really think these speed indicators will slow down speedsters in the village ?
No, all they'll do is let these speeding idiots see who can put the fastest speed on them !
I can't believe the Parish Council can come up with such an expensive idea as this.

What is required is for a Police Officer to have a hand-held radar device on London Road a few times every week, especially Friday & Saturday afternoons / early evenings ?

We very rarely see any uniformed police in the village anyway, so this would act both as a deterrent AND allow the public to see the police at work !
Terry Bowes
Tuesday 14th February 2017 at 4:55 pm
Waste of money when all they get is a letter. What we need are real coppers (Bob Hope or no hope) or real speed cameras. While your at it get rid of the PCSO and employ a village traffic warden full time.
Duncan Herald
Monday 20th February 2017 at 9:10 am
I haven't heard the first cuckoo of spring.
I haven't heard the first chiff-chaff of spring.
I thought I caught a very brief glimse of the first traffic warden of spring !