Acton Bridge Parish Council

September 2023

Background

Thousands of vehicles pass through our village in ever increasing numbers. Our residents, young/old, walking, horse riding, cycling, driving, exercising on our narrow footpaths, are constantly threatened and compromised by the excessive speed of these vehicles.

Speeding issues have been brought to the attention of the Parish Council and discussed in great depth since 2010.

Evidence of Speeding in Acton Bridge

In response to residents’ concerns, the Parish Council purchased 4 Speed Indicator Devices between 2018 & 2020. The summary of the average % speed limit compliance of 30 mph for all 4 locations over a period of several months over 2022 showed:

In May 2023 the monthly data from the 2 active SIDs for data capture showed:

STATION ROAD – Speed limit 30mph                                 MILTON ROUGH  – Speed limit  30mph
Average speed for all journeys- 37.5mph                           Average speed for all journeys- 32.8mph
Number of journeys in excess of 30mph- 20,903              Number of journeys in excess of 30mph- 26,935
Number of journeys in excess of 50mph- 818                   Number of journeys in excess of 50mph- 231
% of all journeys exceeding 30mph- 91.5%                       % of all journeys exceeding 30mph- 76.5%
% of all journeys exceeding 40mph- 36.2%                        % of all journeys exceeding 40mph- 12.43%
Highest recorded speed- 81.6mph                                      Highest recorded speed- 61.7mph

The SIDs have regularly recorded speeds in excess of 80 mph. The data from the SIDs confirms what residents already know and feel about speeding vehicles. There is no indication of improvement. The Parish Council feels more needs to be done.

The Average Speed Camera Pilot Project

The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Local Authorities and Parish Councils have come together to facilitate specific projects in relation to the reduction of speeding across Cheshire. One of these projects is a trial of average speed cameras. Acton Bridge Parish Council has successfully applied to be one of the 3 trial rural sites. Over 80 other parishes had registered their interest in the scheme. Acton Bridge Parish Council will fund the initial purchase and installation, but the PCC will maintain, and manage any risks involved in the pilot for 15 years. 

The PCC are hoping to have the trial sites up and running by the end of this year. The scheme is underway already in Plumley village where the residents voted overwhelmingly in favour of the scheme.

There will be 3 cameras sited at Station Road, Milton Rough and Acton Lane.

The cost to residents of the project

The amount required for the acquisition and installation of the average speed cameras project is £67,023.17. This is the cost that Acton Bridge Parish Council need to fund. As the Parish Council have historically kept residents’ parish council charges low, no reserves have been accrued in the Parish Council finances to offset against this cost.

The agreement with the Police Crime Commissioners Office is that they (along with Highways, CWAC) are required to maintain, insure and repair the cameras and they have committed to this for 15 years at an estimated figure in excess of £185,000.00.

The Parish Council propose to fund the purchase of the average speed cameras via a fixed rate loan from the Public Works Loan Board for the full amount of £67,023.17. This will cost around £7,000 per annum in loan repayments. The impact of the repayment of the loan over 13 years on Acton Bridge residents is an increase in Council Tax payments: 

In preparation for the possibility of the project going ahead this year, 6 months of loan repayments were included in the Parish Council budget for 2034/24. The impact of the 6 monthly and full annual increase, compared to no project increase, is:

This compares to Crowton Parish Council Band D:  £38.71 and Cuddington Parish Council Band D: £35.21 for 2023/24.

Ways to respond to this Consultation

The Parish Council first published information about the average speed camera pilot in Autumn 2022 and held a public open meeting in December 2022. Despite this, there has been very little engagement from residents to the project, so the Parish Council want to give the residents another chance to have their say.

Residents on the Acton Bridge electoral role only, (one per household), please send the information in the table below either by:

1. Email to: consultation@actonbridgeparishcouncil.org or
2. Completing the form and posting it to The Acton Bridge Parish Clerk, 25 Weaverham Road, Sandiway, Cheshire CW8 2NJ (A copy will be in the Acton Bridge Autumn Newsletter)

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The Consultation will finish on 30^th September 2023                   Thank you