COUNCIL MEETING, 28 NOVEMBER 2002

REPORT OF THE

EXECUTIVE MEMBER

Environment

Part II

SAFETY CAMERA DEPLOYMENT AND PROCUREMENT

1. In 2000 Hampshire Constabulary formed the Safety Camera Partnership for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and submitted a successful Operational Case to the former Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions for the Hampshire Constabulary Force area to join the national safety camera cost recovery system. The project partnership for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight includes:-

(i) Hampshire Constabulary

(ii) Hampshire County Council

(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 with support from the Crown Prosecution Service

(viii) Hampshire and Isle of Wight Strategic Health Authority

Through this system, safety camera partnerships between Police forces, Local Authorities and other public bodies are able to be reimbursed for both the capital and revenue costs of safety camera operations through fines revenue collected from offenders. Hence the approach is intended to be cost neutral to each partnership. Each partnership is required to appoint a highway authority to act as Project Treasurer and Hampshire Constabulary has asked the County Council to perform this function.

2. The Operational Case submitted by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Partnership was among 10 partnerships approved by the National Project Board to commence from April 2002. The effect of this locally is a plan to extend safety camera operations across the Hampshire Police force area. The cameras will be deployed solely to assist in the reduction of identified serious and fatal speed-related road casualties and thus, 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 with the Government.

3. In support of the Partnership, a number of decisions were made on 10 September 2002 to approve additional safety camera operations on Hampshire roads, together with the procurement arrangements for new automatic, `fixed site' safety camera equipment, as well as additional roadside traffic speed and monitoring apparatus. The monitoring process will measure the effectiveness of camera enforcement operations in addition to providing information for quarterly reports from the Partnership to the Government.

4. Inappropriate and excessive speed related factors are identified by the Police as a leading contributory factor in road collisions in the United Kingdom, and are present in up to half of collisions on Hampshire roads. Therefore the deployment of additional safety camera operations and the procurement of new, modern equipment will help to tackle this problem.

COUNCILLOR KEITH B. ESTLIN

Executive Member for

Environment

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