Mirfield Town Council has pledged to spend £59,000 – almost half its annual income – to tackle speeding and road safety issues across the town.
Amid growing public concern over speeding and anti-social driving, road dangers outside schools and illegal and nuisance parking, the town council has agreed an unprecedented level of spending.
The town council has no statutory responsibility for road safety but is ready to provide money to the likes of West Yorkshire Police, Kirklees Council and West Yorkshire Safety Camera Partnership for specific measures in Mirfield.
The town council wants to pay for a ‘community enforcement warden’ who will be able to issue fines to offending drivers while also having an important educational role, spreading road safety awareness.
Out of the £59,000, £20,000 will go to Kirklees Council to employ a warden specifically dedicated to Mirfield. This will operate initially as a trial to see how successful it is.
A total of £10,000 will pay for extra police time in Mirfield as part of West Yorkshire Police’s Operation Trimburg, focused on the so-called ‘Fatal 5’ offences – speeding, using a mobile phone while driving, not wearing a seatbelt, drink and drug driving and careless driving.
Another £9,000 has been allocated for independent consultants to carry out traffic surveys on roads which have most complaints about speeding or anti-social driving.
These 14 locations include: Church Lane, Dunbottle Lane, Sunnybank Road, Stocksbank Road, Kitson Hill Road, Nab Lane, Hopton Lane, Steanard Lane, Granny Lane, Knowl Road, Flash Lane and Shillbank.
The remaining £20,000 would be to pay for legal orders and road safety signs.
A motion to allocate £59,000 and prioritise road safety came from councillors Martyn Bolt and Vivien Lees-Hamilton, who are both town councillors and also represent Mirfield on Kirklees Council.
Councillors at an extraordinary meeting of the town council unanimously supported the motion.
Clr Bolt said road safety was a major issue in Mirfield and it was the town council’s duty to support local residents.
He added: “The town council doesn’t have a statutory role in road safety but we can liaise with the statutory bodies. We can also use town council funds to facilitate action by others for such as road safety measures or speed cameras.
“£59,000 sounds like a lot of money but the money can be found without affecting frontline or other services.
“The council precept brings in £125,000 for the year and the council carried forward £179,000 last year. We have funds set aside such as £50,000 for regeneration and community support services.
“This year there’s an allocation of £20,000 so regeneration and community support has £79,000.
“We want to take positive action for our community. It’s time we put our money where our mouths are for our community.”
There was a packed public gallery with clear public concern about various road safety issues. Several residents felt that speed humps and not speed cameras were the only way to slow speeding drivers.
One man suggested that fines generated by the enforcement warden stay in Mirfield and go straight back into road safety.
Clr Lees-Hamilton said the aim was for the town council to help gather the evidence needed to persuade the statutory authorities to act.
Clr Bolt said some of the projects would take time – such as recruitment of the warden – so there would be no “big bang.”
He added: “We are not going to spend all this at once but let’s make a start. You have to start somewhere.”
