FIXED safety cameras will soon be switched back on in Somerset after Somerset County Council agreed to sell the cameras to Avon & Somerset Constabulary for £1 each.
The decision was made by Somerset County Council on Monday 17th February to transfer ownership of the safety cameras to the police.
Last June, the chief constable Nick Gargan commissioned a review of the constabulary’s policy towards speed cameras and opened up new conversations with Somerset County Council to consider if fixed safety cameras could be reintroduced.
The chief constable and the council have now agreed the police will take responsibility and ownership of the cameras and operate them on the highway network on the proviso that no costs whatsoever are incurred by the county council.
Somerset County Council’s cabinet member with responsibility for highways, Cllr Harvey Siggs, said, “We will continue to work closely with the police to improve highway safety and reduce traffic speeds at known road casualty sites. The police have agreed to take full responsibility for the cost and maintenance of the fixed safety cameras and will enforce all speeding offences, and we support them in their decision.”
Superintendent Ian Smith said, “We are pleased that plans to reinstate static speed cameras in Somerset have moved a step closer. We are keen to reinstate fixed cameras in Somerset as soon as possible and we will promote the activation when it happens.
“The ongoing work we have undertaken with our partners to reinstate static speed cameras in the force area is based on national research showing that cameras add value to road safety. There is also more than £2million worth of camera infrastructure currently lying dormant on the roadsides in the force area.
“We believe that the static cameras can be operated in a cost-neutral way and that reactivating them for use alongside our mobile camera vans will help in making our roads safer.”
