Wolds Weighton Ward Councillors, Leo Hammond and David Rudd, along with their Pocklington Provincial colleagues, Kay West, Paul West, and David Sykes, recently organised a meeting between Jonathan Evison, Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner, ERYC Traffic Management and representatives from all Parish and Town Councils in Wolds Weighton and Pocklington Provincial wards to encourage cross organisation working to tackle the important issue of speeding in both our villages and towns.
This meeting was a ‘special edition’ of the Western Parishes Liaison Meeting, a meeting held every three months between the Ward councillors and the thirty-six parishes across the two wards. The meeting, created by the ward councillors, and the only one of it’s kind in the East Riding, is designed to bring Parish and Town councils across both wards together to address area wide issues, such as speeding, and promote collaborative working.
The recent meeting was very productive, with Parish and Town councils raising a range of issues and points to both, the Police, and ERYC, ranging from how do we get more physical speed restrictions, to how to do we get more support for the Community Speed Watch initiative. Community Speed Watch is a Police Scheme where volunteers get trained to use speed guns and can go out and catch people speeding, these speeders are then reported to the Police. This is a purely voluntary role, and one clear message from the meeting is more support is needed for these volunteers.
The Ward Councillor’s said; ‘We would firstly, like to thank our town and Parish councillors, and all the community speed watch volunteers across our Wards for all the work they do voluntarily to address this important issue’.
‘We are more determined than ever to support them in stopping speeding. We will continue to work with ERYC to make sure physical restrictions are installed where possible to reduce the speed of traffic. Crucially though, we will now also be lobbying Humberside Police and Safer Roads Humber to provide more support to the community speed watch volunteers who are absolutely vital to addressing this issue.’
‘It is clear from the data that Community Speed Watch is the best way to tackle speeding, with an on average reduction of speed of 5mph in areas with Community Speed Watch, compared to only 3mph where there are physical restrictions. These volunteers need everyone’s gratitude and support, they are giving up their free time to make our roads safer – we as your councillors will do all we can to support them and get the Police to support them more’.
Police and Crime Commissioner Jonathan Evison also thanked and made clear his support for Community Speed Watch Volunteers. He will be doing all he can to increase support for Speed Watch, and improve communication between the Police and the Volunteers.
