Call for village speeding change

A transport group is calling for more to be done about speeding in and around Pinchbeck.

George Scott, the chair of the Spalding and Peterborough Transport Forum, says not enough is being done in the village, particularly while more young people walk along its roads to Spalding with Two Plank Bridge still closed due to the ongoing Spalding Western Relief Road works.
Mr Scott told The Voice that he’d grown frustrated with being passed between groups trying to get more speed measures and change the ones currently in the village.
“We took one Speed Indication Sign (SID) out with Community Speed Watch and it clocked 1,234 speeding drivers in 34 days,” he said. “I’ve asked the parish council for recent data but they’ve not provided it.
“We’ve two SID signs now in Pinchbeck, one outside the garden centre in a 50mph zone when it should be in the 30mph area.
“The other is in a 30mph zone on Hall Lane, but it’s on a bend. It needs to be on a straight.
“I’ve asked Pinchbeck Parish Council about it but they say it’s an issue for the Road Safety Partnership.
“You speak to them and they say it’s a Lincolnshire County Council issue, who say it’s the safety partnership.
“It’s especially important at the moment with so many young people walking along the roads as they can’t use Two Plank Bridge.
“I’ve seen a number of near misses but we shouldn’t wait for one of them to be an actual accident.”
Pinchbeck Parish Council chair Coun James Avery said: “We have invested in a number of cameras in a number of locations, and because they are mobile we can site them for a period of time, then move elsewhere (as long as we have installed a post).
“I understand his frustration with regard LCC and Lincs Safety Partnership, but I believe the issue of speeding relates to the wider area of Pinchbeck, not just one particular location. On that basis, the parish council will be having further dialogue with LCC, and any other necessary party to continue to get our point across.
“I have said before that speeding is not the fault of the parish council. It’s a small number of offenders that ignore the Highway Code, ignore the speed limits and the road quality and conditions, because they believe their time is more precious than that of others. But when it comes to enforcement, the necessary authorities are nowhere to be seen.
“We’ve not had a request for data, but the whole point of capturing the data it so the parish council can have robust, joined up dialogue with LCC and the police if necessary, reinforcing the whole issue of speeding in and around Pinchbeck and calling for appropriate enforcement.
“A man in a van with a camera is not enforcement.”