£18,000 to tackle boy racers and speeding blighting town centre

Six sensors which warn drivers when they are exceeding the speed limit are to be fitted in a town after a campaign against irresponsible driving.

The month-old Slow Down Now, Keep Long Sutton Safe campaign took its fight to tackle boy racers and speeders to the parish council last week, where members pledged £15,000 to install the speed sensors.

South Holland district councillor David Wilkinson pledged a further £3,000 for a sixth sensor.

Around 25 members of the public attended the parish council meeting to support the campaign and voice their concerns.

The town’s community beat manager Laura Griggs also represented the police at the meeting.

She said the town would see a higher police presence in the coming weeks, including random radar speed checks.

Campaign group member Tim Machin said: “Her main message was that while everyone is saying there is a problem here, no one is reporting incidents to the police so they are not appearing on their statistics.

“Statistics drive their resource allocation so as a result we have not, until now, been allocated the resources.

“As a community we need to ring 101 with as much information about any future incident we see.

“The police will follow up reports and take the appropriate action.

“For persistent nuisance drivers this could include the confiscation of their vehicle plus a significant fine, plus points and potentially a ban.

“For young drivers it might also require them to undergo a retest.”

The council meeting followed a public meeting where more than 100 residents raised concerns about young drivers doing handbrake turns and wheel spins in the town centre, car parks and back roads and other drivers speeding – sometimes up to 80mph – in various areas including London Road and Roman Bank.

HGVs ignoring the 7.5 ton weight restriction, inadequate signage and road markings and an incorrectly positioned pedestrian crossing were also raised.

As well as pledging the money for the speed warning signs, the parish council also agreed to set up a joint working group to decide where the new signs will be posted and to look at where any future funding could be spent.

It is also set to approach Sutton Bridge and Lutton parish councils inviting them to join forces to tackle the problems on the B1359 and side roads in the greater Long Sutton area.

Mr Machin added: “I think our campaign group has made tremendous progress in its first month and has achieved by positive action and the power of social media more than many groups fighting similar problems have taken years to do.”

‘We have had enough’of crashes

The Slow Down Now, Keep Long Sutton Safe campaign was launched just a month ago after a car came off the road at high-speed and crashed into a founder member’s home in London Road.
It followed a previous crash, in the same place just a few weeks earlier, when a car throught to be travelling too fast somersaulted along the road and came to rest on its roof.
Only last week there was another accident a little further down the road at the junction of Wisbech Road.
Campaign member Tim Machin told Long Sutton Parish Council: “Residents in the vicinity of these crashes have seen many accidents over the years and theirs is an uneasy existence, uncertain where the next vehicle will come off the road, whether it might hit a pedestrian, run into a parked car or end up in their front room.
“These fears are not irrational, they are based on residents’ observation of virtually daily incidents around the town.
“For those residents who have had a near miss, or whose car is clipped by passing traffic, or had a car collide with their house at 2.30am, we say we have had enough.”