David Sammels, a Councillor for St Philips' ward in Swindon, explains why he and his colleagues have threaten to pull out of their Safety Camera Partnership.
Swindon Borough Council has recently caused waves by threatening to withdraw from our local Safety Camera Partnership unless the Government allows us to share in or take fully the revenue generated from speed camera fines.
Unusually for a British tax or fine, when speed cameras were first being touted in the early years of Blair’s administration there was a promise that the money generated would be hypothecated straight back into more road safety measures; probably a concession to mitigate the unpopularity of the idea.
However, when the Department for Transport introduced Safety Camera Partnerships this link was not maintained, with approximately 15% of the revenues in the average partnership being retained by the partnership for additional road safety measures, with the rest of the money often going straight into the Government’s coffers.
In Swindon, like many other authorities, the Borough Council must pay for the cameras and the operation of the Partnership, but the revenues generated by the fines go to the Government. We feel that this is grossly unfair, but then again, this is on form for Labour.
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