Contact: Tim Cheesebrough, ext 7114/Ian Medd, ext 7075

1. Summary

1.1 The following decisions are sought:

(i) That the sites for fixed and mobile safety camera enforcement operations identified in this report be approved, and approval be given for works to be undertaken to install the necessary enforcement equipment and associated driver information signing.

(ii) That approval be given to enter into a contract for the supply of automated, unattended safety camera equipment on Hampshire roads as a consequence of the current camera tendering and procurement process.

(iii) That approval be given to purchase and install automatic speed and flow monitoring apparatus for the Hampshire road network in support of the Safety Camera Partnership Operational Case.

2. Reason

2.1 Hampshire Constabulary, in partnership with Hampshire County Council and the other signatories to the Safety Camera Partnership for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, has received approval from the Government for an Operational Case to extend safety camera operations across the Hampshire Constabulary Force area. Such cameras will be deployed to assist in the reduction of speed-related road casualties and, as a result, will assist in the delivery of the County Council's road casualty reduction strategy, the Hampshire Speed Management Strategy and the road casualty reduction target the County Council has set as part of its local Public Service Agreement. These decisions are sought to approve those additional safety camera operations on Hampshire roads and the means of procuring both new automatic, unattended `fixed site' safety camera equipment from a preferred supplier, as well as additional roadside traffic speed and monitoring apparatus.

3. Other Options Considered and Rejected

3.1 Not to expand casualty-reducing safety camera operations on Hampshire roads in support of the County Council's casualty reduction and speed management strategies.

4. Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Decision Maker or a Member or Officer consulted - None.

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee - Not applicable.

6. Reason(s) for the Matter being dealt with if Urgent - Not applicable.

Approved by: Date:

Councillor K B Estlin

7. The Hampshire Safety Camera Partnership

7.1 In 2000 Hampshire Constabulary formed a partnership with Hampshire Magistrates' Courts Committee, the County Council and the other highway authorities operating in the Hampshire Force area, to submit an Operational Case to the then Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR) for the Force area to join the national safety camera fines hypothecation system (now known as `cost recovery' or `netting off'). Through this system, partnerships involving principally Police Forces, Highway Authorities and Magistrates' Courts Committees are able to be reimbursed for the costs (capital and revenue) of safety camera operations as a consequence of fines revenue collected from offenders. The system therefore is intended to be cost neutral to the Partnership.

7.2 The established project partnership for Hampshire includes:

(i) Hampshire Constabulary

(ii) Hampshire County Council (as lead highway authority and project treasurer)

(iii) Portsmouth City Council

(iv) Southampton City Council

(v) Isle of Wight Council

(vi) Highways Agency (through the Area 3 Commission)

(vii) Hampshire Magistrates' Courts Committee

(viii) Crown Prosecution Service

(ix) Hampshire and Isle of Wight Strategic Health Authority.

8. Submission of Operational Case

8.1 Recent legislation has enabled the Government to roll out safety (speed and red light) camera fines cost recovery mechanisms across the United Kingdom. It is anticipated that all Police Force areas will be able to join the system by the 2003/04 financial year, but this is being preceded by a phased `roll out' across the country in response to submitted `Operational Cases', from safety camera partnerships, based upon Police Force areas.

8.2 The approach forms an important strand of the Government's national road safety strategy to the year 2010 and its accompanying proposals for speed management. Inappropriate speed is estimated to account in some way for around one-third of Police reported personal injury accidents in the United Kingdom, with similar levels on Hampshire roads, where inappropriate and excessive speeds are identified by the Police as the leading road collision contributory factor.

8.3 Eight Police Force areas were involved in the national pilot trials of the new cost recovery system approved by the Government in 2000. These have now been joined by further Force areas, bringing the total number of accepted partnerships to over 20 by summer 2002. The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Operational Case, submitted for the second time in December 2001, was among 10 partnerships approved by the National Project Board to commence from April 2002. Hampshire Constabulary was only the second Police Force to gain approval in the south-east region.

8.4 Through increased deployment of safety camera operations all the initial pilot areas achieved impressive reductions in casualties, particularly those that are speed-related. In the south-east region the system in the Thames Valley Force area was also among the eight pilot schemes.

8.5 In Hampshire, deployment of mobile safety (speed) cameras on some 11 high risk routes across the county in the late 1990s produced encouraging average reductions in both speed related casualties (at over 30%) and all casualties (at some 12%), when three years' results after application were matched with the three years before treatment. These routes, together with the proposals for additional fixed and mobile camera operations, are shown on the plan which will be displayed at the meeting.

9. Key Aspects of Safety Camera Operational Case Submissions

9.1 The Government has issued comprehensive guidelines to partnerships covering the format and content of Operational Cases. For these to be accepted they were required to meet the following fundamental tests:

(i) That all members of the partnership are fully committed to supporting the project and will abide by the principles of operation and financial control. These aspects have been defined for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Partnership through the preparation of a comprehensive Service Level Agreement.

(ii) That the Operational Case must be based wholly on the objective of road casualty reduction, particularly fatal and serious casualties, where the reduction of speed related (and to a lesser extent red light infringement) casualties is likely to be significantly aided by continued and (where appropriate) increased safety camera enforcement activity.

9.2 The National Project Board, which had representatives from DTLR, Home Office and Association of Chief Police Officers, set threshold levels in recorded accidents and the proportion of drivers exceeding the speed limit for the deployment of new fixed and mobile safety cameras. These threshold levels have dictated the number and type of safety camera operations to be applied across the Hampshire Force area, except that the existing casualty-justified safety camera operations (on 11 signed target routes together with the town area of Basingstoke are also permitted to be included in the Operational Case.

9.3 The new operations will not affect the continuance of the County Council's road safety education, training and engineering programmes, aimed towards achieving a more appropriate speed regime on Hampshire roads. Safety camera enforcement operations are to be deployed in support of those important programmes of activity which are delivered through the authority's Local Transport Plan and integrated Hampshire Road Safety Strategy.

10. Operational Case - Key Implications for the County Council

10.1 Each partnership is required to appoint a highway authority to act as Project Treasurer, as this represents the only mechanism by which fine revenue collected by the Lord Chancellor's office via local Magistrates' Courts Committees can be returned to partnerships by the Department for Transport (DfT), through grant funding.

10.2 Funding is returned to each partnership, to be distributed to meet capital and ongoing costs as outlined in the Operational Case submission. Permissible expenditure areas are very tightly defined and will be subject to rigorous annual auditing of accounts. Hampshire Constabulary has asked the County Council to perform this function and the County Treasurer therefore acts in the role of Project Treasurer.

10.3 In terms of the County Council's Local Transport Plan, its Road Safety Strategy and the Hampshire Local Public Service Agreement, the key implications of the Operational Case are as follows:

(i) A proposed increase (up to double) of existing enforcement activity at target locations within the existing 11 camera enforcement routes and the town area of Basingstoke, which should maintain the casualty-reduction effectiveness of the existing speed enforcement operations, with the potential for some further improvement.

(ii) Further mobile enforcement route sections during 2002/03 and 2003/04, as follows:

(a) A30, Hook (2002/03)

(b) A339, Lasham (2003/04)

(c) A30, Blackwater (2003/04)

(d) Additionally, further sites are currently under investigation by the Highways Agency and in liaison with Hampshire Constabulary with respect to sections of the A339 and A36 trunk roads in Hampshire.

(iii) The placement of new fixed site, automatically operated safety cameras at the following locations during 2002/03:

(a) B3037 Bishopstoke Road, Eastleigh

(b) C374 Highlands Road, Fareham

(c) Grange Road, Gosport

(d) A35 Totton Causeway, New Forest

(e) A32 Gosport Road, Fareham.

(iv) The placement and operation of up to 40 new automated traffic speed and flow monitoring devices on the Hampshire road network, to measure the effectiveness of camera enforcement operations and provide information for quarterly reports from the Partnership to the Government.

10.4 Strict Government guidelines require that all sites and routes for camera enforcement operations are clearly signed and advertised in accordance with conspicuity rules issued by the then DTLR in December 2001. The implications of these requirements are that all sites and routes will be signed in a similar fashion to the existing mobile route safety camera signing in Hampshire, all attended police enforcement operations are to be clearly visible and all `fixed' site cameras are to be coloured in a distinctive yellow livery.

10.5 The acceptance of the Partnership Operational Case featured within Target 11 (Local Target 6) of the Hampshire Public Service Agreement, signed with the Government in January 2002. This target is for a more demanding reduction than the national target in fatal and serious casualties on Hampshire's roads, a 26% reduction by 2004 on the baseline levels for the years 1994-98. Expansion of safety camera operations on Hampshire's roads should contribute significantly to meeting this demanding target.

11. Fixed Site Camera and Automatic Speed and Flow Monitoring Apparatus Procurement

11.1 Procurement of safety camera on-site equipment (cameras, housings and detection apparatus), together with `in-station' software and data capture systems, is being undertaken under a partnership-wide procurement contract to be let on behalf of the partnership by Portsmouth City Council. This has been the subject of advertisements in the European Journal and the technical press and is intended to lead to the selection of a likely single supplier of equipment, maintenance and calibration services for all fixed site camera operations across the partnership. Each partner will subsequently enter into separate contracts with the selected supplier(s).

11.2 A separate tendering process and resultant contract will procure the automatic traffic speed and flow monitoring equipment for operation at up to 40 locations associated with camera sites and routes across the Hampshire road network. Approval is sought to enter into contracts for the supply of both camera equipment and traffic speed and flow monitoring apparatus.

7288/TLC/IM