Agenda item

12.15pm

At the Police and Crime Panel’s meeting of 15 September 2023, approval was given to the formation of a Task and Finish Group to enable the Panel to scrutinise how the PCC holds the Chief Constable to account in relation to Road Safety.

The Panel is asked to approve the final report and the recommendations of the Task and Finish Group on Road Safety.

The Panel was provided with the final report of the Task and Finish Group on Road Safety.

The Chair of the Panel, Cllr Brazier introduced the report and thanked witnesses and the Panel’s Scrutiny Officer for the work carried out.

Reference was made to three areas of the review which had not been completed: pavement parking / obstruction, car cruising / meets and the enforcement of 20 mph. The Panel agreed that, where possible another meeting of the Task and Finish Group take place to consider these outstanding areas.

The PCC referred to pavement parking and pointed out that this was the responsibility of local authorities although it was acknowledged that the balance had to be got right in terms of responsibility as obstruction of pavements was a police issue.  

A discussion took place on the enforcement of 20 mph speed limits / zones and Panel Members believed that these should be enforced by the police.  

Discussion took place on the Road Safety Strategy and the Panel asked that the PCC defer the finalisation of the strategy until the Panel had completed its review. It was agreed that the outstanding issues be reported back to the Panel in June. 

RESOLVED – (1) That approval be given to final report and the following recommendations contained in the report and that the PCC be asked to take forward the relevant recommendations to his office:

(i)                 The Road Safety Strategy be shared with the Police and Crime Panel. That better coordination and communication take place on the strategy to the different local authority tiers in Thames Valley, to Highways / Road Safety Teams within local authorities and National Highways.

(ii)               That better coordination and partnership work take place between Roads Policing and local authorities on sites chosen for Police attention.

(iii)        That all speed data from local authorities, CSW volunteers and SIDS be fed into the Roads Policing Unit.

(iv)        That West Berkshire Community Speedwatch Scheme should be considered as good practice by other local authorities to support local volunteer groups. As such ensuring all stakeholders are fully on board with community concerns around speeding.

(v)         It was agreed that there was potential for more consistent monitoring and follow-up to improve the CSW system’s effectiveness and the PCC was asked to implement this with TVP.

(vi)        That the PCC be asked to investigate linking DVLA data with CSW data and using police staff with calibrated cameras alongside the Community Speedwatch volunteers to improve the scheme.

(vii)      That the PCC be asked to look at the use of data sharing (postcode data) between TVP and local authorities and CSW schemes.

(viii)     That consideration be given to the creation of a forum for Community Speedwatch volunteers to enable them to give feedback, to share current good practice and to receive refresher training on the full functionality of the on-line system.

(ix)        The PCC be asked to explore the use of funding from the Road Safety Fund for training officers to use TruCAMS and update the current equipment (3-6 devices available) 

(2)         That the Task and Finish Group complete its work on the three outstanding issues and report back to the Panel.