New traffic cameras proposed for Preston city centre to stop drivers making banned turns

Lancashire County Council is set to ask the government for new powers to fine motorists for committing so-called ‘moving traffic offences’ - including breaching turning bans and driving in the wrong direction along one-way streets.

If the authority gets the green light for the idea, it means that automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras could be set up at two new locations in the city in an attempt to deter drivers from breaking existing rules.

A public consultation is now under way into a proposal to install the kit on Charnley Street - close to the entrance to the Fishergate Shopping Centre car park, off Corporation Street - and at the traffic light-controlled junction of Ringway and Bow Lane, near County Hall.

Highways bosses report that the no entry restriction half way along on Charnley Street - which should prevent vehicles travelling from St.Wilford Street and onto Corporation Street - is being flouted by drivers seeking a route out of the city centre without having to take the long detour needed to avoid the bus-only cameras on Fishergate itself.

Motorists sticking to the rules have to exit the city via streets around Avenham in order to steer clear of the stretch of Fishergate - between Mount Street and Corporation Street - which is reserved for buses and some authorised vehicles and is already covered by its own ANPR cameras.

The county council says that the unauthorised alternative route - which enables those drivers who risk it to quickly access the A59 (Ringway) or Fishergate Hill via Fox Steet, St. Wilfrid Street, Charnley Street and Corporation Street - is “popular”.

Whilst no injury-causing accidents have been recorded at the Charnley Street junction, the road layout has been designed specifically to narrow the entry point for single-file traffic turning in from Corporation Street.

In explaining the proposed camera enforcement, Lancashire County Council says: “Vehicles entering Charnley Street do not expect a conflict with an oncoming vehicle.

“Enforcement at this location will reduce rat-running through the city centre and reduce the conflict between vehicles and pedestrians at the junction of Charnley Street and Corporation Street.”

The route was briefly made two-way in 2020 as result of temporary restrictions introduced at the junction of Fox Street and Fishergate to accommodate social distancing measures for pedestrians using the city centre at the time.

Meanwhile, the authority also wants to keep an all-seeing eye on a junction just yards from its own headquarters - where Bow Lane meets the dual carriageway at Ringway.

Traffic heading out of the city centre along the main route is prohibited from turning right to double back on itself and access Marsh Lane in the direction of the University of Central Lancashire.

U-turns are also outlawed at that junction in both directions, but the county council says that there is currently “abuse” of all of the restrictions in place - and warns that motorists who ignore the signs could “come into conflict” with pedestrians using the light-controlled crossing points at the location.

The junction has seen four accidents in the last five years and the police have already provided enhanced enforcement and temporary signs as a deterrent.

If County Hall’s application to the government is approved for the two proposed new camera sites in Preston - and two others it has earmarked, one each in Lancaster and Accrington - it would then have blanket permission to be able to introduce similar ANPR measures at problem spots elsewhere without needing to seek further permission from the Department for Transport, the Post understands.

Any future proposed camera set-ups would nevertheless still be subject to local public consultations before being given the go-ahead by highways bosses.

Other rules that could be enforced by county council-controlled ANPR cameras include those which apply at yellow box junctions - which should not be entered unless the exit from them is clear or a driver is turning right - and those in force on streets where motor vehicles are prohibited altogether. However, speeding enforcement would remain a matter for the police even if the local authority is given the new powers for which it plans to apply.

If that application is successful, the cameras could appear next year - but for the first six months of their operation, the county council intends to issue warning notices for a first offence in order to “educate drivers about the contravention that they have committed”. County Hall claims that strengthened enforcement would improve road safety and air quality - and reduce journey times and delays.

County Cllr Charlie Edwards, cabinet member for highways and transport, said that the locations identified so far were seeing “congestion and…a danger to road users” as a result of the rules of the road being ignored.

He added: "In order to be able to enforce these locations with camera technology, we need to be granted the powers to do so by the government. I'm grateful for people taking the time to give us their views on the first proposed locations.

"It's a priority for us to keep our roads safe, keep traffic moving and do what we can to minimise emissions.

"We are hoping that if this initiative is successful, it could be rolled out at other locations across the county. Any additional sites would each undertake the same consultation process before it was rolled out to them in the future."

The six-week public consultation can be accessed on the council’s website.

PRESTON’S PAST PROBLEMS WITH NUMBER PLATE CAMERAS

The Fishergate bus gate cameras caused controversy when they were first introduced in late 2016. Despite widespread publicity, thousands of motorists continued to use the stretch of the road between Mount Street and Corporation Street, which had been newly-restricted under the scheme.

The cameras kept snapping for four months - leading to 36,000 motorists being fined for breaking the new rules.

However, they were eventually switched off and an investigation launched by the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. An inspector heard five appeals against the £60 fines that people had been issued - and ruled that the scheme was unfair, because advance warning signs on surrounding streets were deemed inadequate.

County Hall said that it would refund any drivers fined during the period who subsequently applied to get their money back. Only 9,000 did so - but it still cost the authority more than £250,000.

The cameras were turned back on almost a year later after new signs were installed, but as the Post revealed last year, the location still accounted for 70 percent of all bus lane and bus gate fines handed out in the city between late 2017 and late 2021.

RULES OF THE ROAD

Since 31st May this year, local authorities in England have been able to apply to the Transport Secretary for new powers to enforce certain moving traffic offences.

Such powers have previously been the preserve of the police, but if they are now granted to the councils that ask for them, those local authorities will be able to issue fines to drivers for a range of offences for the first time. The beaches that would attract fines under the changes include ignoring signs banning left or right turns or U-turns.

The new scheme was introduced following concern nationally that some offences were not being strictly enforced. In 2019, the Local Government Association conducted a survey of English local authorities - outside of London, where councils already have enforcement powers - in which two thirds of respondents said that the police did not actively enforce any moving traffic offences in their area.

Ninety percent of councils said that they would use civil enforcement powers if they were available - mainly to alleviate congestion and improve road safety.

The levels of fines that can be imposed range from £20 for lower-level penalties which are paid promptly, up to £105 for late payment of higher-level penalties.

The government has said that traffic enforcement must be "aimed at increasing compliance and not raising revenue". Unlike funds raised from speed camera fines, which are transferred to central government, surplus funds from moving traffic enforcement will be retained by the local authority, but can be used only to recoup the cost of enforcement or pay for public transport provision, highway improvement projects or environmental improvements in the authority’s area.

Source: House of Commons library