LIB DEM COUNCILLORS PRESS FOR ACTION ON COCHRANE PARK SPEED SIGNS GO-SLOW

Lib Dem councillors in North Heaton ward are calling on Newcastle City Council to speed up implementation of anti-speeding measures!

Lib Dems Cllr Greg Stone and Cllr Doreen Huddart have expressed frustration with the council highways department's lack of action on introducing promised flashing "driver feedback signs" on Cochrane Park estate and elsewhere in the city, after waiting well over a year for ordered equipment to arrive and be installed.

Cllr Greg Stone said "We are pleased that the policy of 20mph zones for residential areas introduced by the previous Lib Dem council administration is proving successful in reducing accidents, but the problem of effective enforcement is still an issue. We are conscious that particular locations including Cochrane Park Avenue and Etherstone Avenue are longer and wider and tempt drivers into going faster. Residents of these areas have complained for a long time about the problem and we agreed to use part of our ward budget to order half a dozen moveable feedback signs, displaying and recording driver speed, as a deterrent, with the intention of using them in local hot-spots. As far as we understand, the order was placed many months ago, but there has been no progress whatsoever on getting this installed. We are calling on the Labour council leadership to stop dithering and get on with it - we need enforcement, not excuses.

"Residents of Cochrane Park regularly ask us what is happening with the promised signs and they are getting sick of waiting - they rightly want action, and we feel that they are justified in their concern. If, as we have been led to understand, there are technical problems with the equipment, the council needs to identify alternative suppliers swiftly, as this situation has gone on long enough. If it means we get fewer signs as a result of increased cost, we feel it would be preferable to have some rather than none at all."