Community Speedwatch scheme launched across Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) alongside partners from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) came together on Monday 11 March 2024 to officially launch a Community Speedwatch scheme which will take part in five different districts.

Two of schemes will take place in Stockport, as well as Bolton, North Manchester, Tameside and Wigan.

Officers alongside Deputy Mayor for Greater Manchester Kate Green, and local residents from High Lane in Stockport, met to discuss their plans around speeding drivers in the local area.

The residents, who are also volunteers for the scheme, showed the Deputy Mayor the roads for concern in that area and gave her an insight into how the speeding device works and how they record the registration plate, make and model of the speeding vehicle in question.

The collated information will then be passed onto GMP where a 'warning letter' is then sent to the registered owner of the vehicle, requesting them to keep their speed down. Repeat offenders may be sent out Notice of Intended Prosecution letters if they continue to ignore the sign-posted speed limit.

The Community Speed Watch (CSW) scheme aims to tackle local speeding issues. It allows residents to become police-trained volunteers to monitor vehicle speeds in their communities, with the aim of changing the behaviour of road users who drive above the speed limit through that area.

Chief Inspector Ronnie Neilson from GMP’s Specialist Operation branch said: “Speed is a massive issue all across our roads and it is a massive problem that we have to tackle. Speed is a one of the key factors in nearly all of our collisions, it increases the severity of the collision, the energy at 30mph is 50 per cent more than it would be at 20mph for example.

“Having a community backing the work that we are doing and working alongside them is huge, it is simple common sense, it is about how we work together to solve a problem. Afterall, the community is a big part in what we do and it is great to have them involved in this scheme.”

Deputy Mayor for Police, Crime, Criminal Justice and Fire Kate Green said: “I think it is great that we have volunteers from the local community that know the speeding hotspots in their area and are prepared to go out and take action in our partnership approach.

“We would like to have this across the whole of the city region as this Speedwatch initiative fits into a bigger strategy for us around road safety and safe travel across Greater Manchester.

“I have met a number of residents across Greater Manchester who have serious concern about speeding around areas such as schools and local shopping centres, we are doing everything we can to keep every resident in those areas as safe as we can, and the work around that never stops.”

Neighbourhoods Inspector Amreek Singh from GMP’s Stockport district said: “I am delighted that Stockport could host the Community Speedwatch launch event in High Lane yesterday morning. A lot of hard work behind the scenes from my officers and especially Sergeant Jason Holmwood have led us to this point, we have listened to the concerns of the local community and targeted some key hotspots in Stockport where we have had a significant number of complaints from concerned members of the public who live and work in that area.

“We have three key neighbourhood priorities in the local area as set out in the GMP Neighbourhood Review, which was launched in March 2023 and one of which is dealing with road traffic offences with a keen focus on speeding and dangerous drivers. So for us to have two Community Speedwatch schemes live throughout Stockport is a massive advantage for us and something that can help us eradicate careless driving in the district and hopefully prevent serious injuries, and fatalities throughout Greater Manchester.”

Community Speedwatch volunteer and resident in the High Lane area of Stockport, Alan James, concluded: “This is supposed to be a quiet road, there is a school at the bottom and this area has a lot of elderly residents. I have been living in this area for 11 years now and we have seen it gone from about five cars in a day to more than 1,000 due to the changes on the A-road around the corner.

“We have seen incidents where someone has overtaken someone at high-speed, people overturning their cars and landing in someone’s garden. I get really annoyed when I see a speeding driver, so, if I can raise awareness and make a difference in my community, I will do everything I can to do that.”