Bournemouth could be set to follow Swindon’s lead in switching off the town’s speed cameras after a committee was set up to discuss their necessity.
Two weeks ago Swindon became the first town in the UK to turn off its five fixed speed cameras after the Conservative council claimed the £320,000 annual maintenance bill was too high.
There are 20 fixed cameras in Bournemouth and the committee is keen to see what benefits the town actually receives from the cameras. It will also assess whether they help prevent accidents and reduce speed.
Charminster councillor Mark Anderson, who was responsible for the set-up of the committee, said the issue is something he has wanted to investigate for some time.
“We pay a lot of money into the safety camera partnership and I'd like to know what we actually get from it,” he said.
“If we don't have the safety cameras, we can invest the money in road improvements. This could potentially include filling in potholes.
"That's one of the things we will be looking at: should we be using some of this money to help repair the road infrastructure of the town? We have very little money from the government for road repair.”
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