Scott with one of the many speed cameras to be axed

The Liberal Democrat Official Opposition at Northamptonshire County Council have reacted with astonishment and anger after the Conservative Cabinet Member for Transport attempted to blame the police for switching off speed cameras in the County and claimed he would “not have encouraged” the move.

Leader of the Opposition, Cllr Brendan Glynane said “It was the Conservative decision not to fund the Casualty Reduction Partnership that was directly responsible for speed cameras being switched off across the county. They can’t pretend it was nothing to do with them and wash their hands of it now! The Conservatives hypocrisy is astonishing.”

“We warned the Conservatives last year that switching off cameras led to a massive increase in deaths and serious injuries in neighbouring Oxfordshire and that the decision to cut the speed camera money would be extremely risky and put lives at risk. Now we see the tragic results – an increase in lives lost last year to 28 and 14 deaths in the first three months alone this year.”

Liberal Democrat Transport Spokesman, Cllr Chris Lofts said “Last year the previous Conservative Cabinet Member told the local press “even if I did have a million pounds I wouldn’t spend it on safety cameras”. Now the new Conservative Cabinet Member says it was a mistake and they were wrong. He claims that he “would not have encouraged” the decision, yet he was part of a Conservative Cabinet that cut the money and he, personally, voted not to fund the speed cameras.”

“The Conservatives simply can not have it both ways. The truth is they didn’t fund cameras, they were warned about what had happened in Oxfordshire (where the Conservatives had to switch cameras back on after a 50% increase in deaths on the roads), and now they are trying to hoodwink the public and pretend it was nothing to do with them in the first place! The Conservatives should have listened to us last year. Now they should heed the lesson from their colleagues in Oxfordshire and switch the cameras back on.”

Scott Collins Parliamenatry Spokesman for South Northants Lib Dems said “These figures only echo what both the public and we as a party locally were saying would be the case once the full effect of the turn off the cameras could be analysed. The Conservative obsession with the ‘bottom line’ and axing anything they see as expendable has shown its true impact on our streets in these figures.

“Add to this the removal of Police Comunity Suport Officers and the turning off of half of all the street lights in the county its easy to see that the so called ‘party of law and order’ has now become the party of unsafe streets and roads.”

Article from Northants ET 10th April 2012 on speed cameras:

http://www.northantset.co.uk/news/local/we-were-wrong-to-turn-off-speed-cameras-1-3715097

February 12th 2011 article from the Northants ET quoting Cllr Heather Smith:

http://www.northantset.co.uk/news/local/deaths-fear-over-plan-to-turn-northamptonshire-s-speed-cameras-off-1-2407457