'Stalemate' meeting over speed camera location on A10
A meeting held last week to decide a new location for a speed camera has been described as a “stalemate”.
Borough councillors Alex Kemp, Simon Nash and West Winch Parish Council chairman Terry Gibson attended a meeting with county council representatives on Friday regarding a speed camera installation on the A10 at Setch.
A speed camera had been removed from the Garage Lane junction in Setch in mid-December just days after being erected.
Businesses, councillors and residents had complained the camera was dangerous as it obscured vision when pulling out of the junction.
But a resolution has yet to be reached after engineers visited the site last week.
Following Friday’s meeting, Ms Kemp said: “It was a stalemate between us and the county council.
“We do not want it located on that corner of Garage Lane as we think it will be a distraction and cause more problems.”
The camera cannot be installed where there are overhead cables and Ms Kemp has requested another urgent meeting with network engineer Alex Cliffe.
Ms Kemp added: “This is an issue of huge public importance. Policies have to change because there is no substitute to listening to local residents.
“The officer did not like it but we can’t agree to a speed camera when residents and businesses use that stretch of road ever day and safety is going to be compromised.”
The Lynn News has seen an email from Norfolk County Council’s director of Highways which says there is not a great deal of flexibility when it comes to speed camera locations.
National guidelines have to be followed in which the camera should be located where the police have recorded a cluster of accidents and injuries.
He adds: “I am also afraid that leaves the position that either the camera is located in the vicinity of the Garage Lane Junction, or the Safety Camera Partnership funding will need to be reallocated to the next highest priority site in Norfolk.”
The director goes on to say the camera installation would result in a “welcome reduction in recorded accidents in Setch”.
