A WAR of words has erupted among Worcester Conservatives after City Council chiefs said a proposed six-month trial of a CCTV van outside a busy Bedwardine school was too expensive.
The van was due to be situated outside Pitmaston Primary School in May to tackle traffic in an area described as ‘an accident waiting to happen’ by local councillor Alan Amos.
The Observer reported in February on the introduction of speed warning signs and the hope for a mobile CCTV van outside the school.
But the trial was scrapped after county chiefs said its £20,000 cost would never be recovered as the offences the mobile vehicle was able to enforce such as cars parked on zebra crossings and cars parked on zig zags would not meet the cost of the scheme.
While it would not enforce the introduction of a CCTV van, council leader Coun Marc Bayliss confirmed the city council would continue to work with County Hall on the issue which has included hiring a new dedicated Civil Enforcement Officer.
Despite this Coun Amos, who is the cabinet member for Highways at County Hall, launched a fierce attack on Guildhall bosses and in response to his own party leader during a heated meeting of the City Council last Tuesday (November 30).
“The parking situation around the school has now been assessed as ‘an accident is likely to happen’,” he said.
“I’ve waited for half a year for an explanation as to why this project hasn’t started. I don’t recognise either the chronology or the facts that I’ve just been given.
“If it’s a question of technology, if that is not available now, to run the facility, then it obviously wasn’t available a year ago when discussions started with the Highways and nor was available in May when Parking Enforcement told me the scheme would start.
“So, either county highways and I have been misled, or there’s been an extraordinary misunderstanding by the City Council. And so, which is it?” – a question unanswered directly by Coun Bayliss.
Speaking after the meeting, Coun Amos said: “I worked very hard to come up with a solution – the first in the county – to introduce a mobile parking enforcement camera van which would automatically catch and fine offenders, without the need for traffic wardens which we rarely see anyway.
“This van could, of course, be used at other city schools.
“The council has badly let local residents down after I’ve worked so hard with highways officers to come up with an innovative solution to deal with this long-term dangerous problem,” he added.
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