Cameras to curb City's moving traffic contraventions

A series of new cameras designed to curb moving traffic contraventions will go live in Liverpool next week. Liverpool City Council has been installing Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras at a number of locations as part of new enforcement powers to help reduce congestion, improve air quality and road safety, and encourage sustainable travel.

The new powers, as set out in Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act (2004), allows Local Authorities to penalise poor driving habits which previously could only be enforced by the police, under criminal law.

Liverpool City Council, which has now received these new powers from the Department of Transport (DfT), will use the cameras to reinforce the work it is currently doing to tackle unlawful and dangerous driving behaviour.

The new ANPR cameras, which go live at the start of Road Safety Week, will also complement changes to key parts of the City's highways networks such as the upgrade of The Strand and Lime Street, and the increasing number of cycle lanes being introduced across the City.

However, following DfT guidelines, there will be a warning notice period where no fines will be issued for first-time offenders. Drivers will initially be issued with a warning letter notice but they may receive a fine of £70 if they carry on ignoring the driving restriction.

Examples of the type of moving traffic offences that can be enforced under the new powers include:-

•  Undertaking banned turns.
  
   Driving through a:- 'No Entry' sign.
  
   Driving in a route permitted for buses and taxis only.
  
   Driving through a School street, pedestrian and cycle zone.
   

•  Entering a yellow box junction when the exit is not clear.
   

• The Council will initially undertake enforcement at the following locations. from:- Monday, 20 November 2023:-
  
  » Lime Street, from London Road - no motor vehicles, except for:- buses, taxis and access.
  
  » Ranelagh Street, at Brownlow Hill - no u-turn on Ranelagh Place.

As well as the above, the existing bus gate on Ranelagh Street will also benefit from the rollout of ANPR cameras which will allow more enforcement to take place.

Further ANPR cameras will become operational in mid-December at: Whitechapel Cross/Hall Street; New Quay/Chapel Street; St Annes Fire Station; and on The Strand at New Quay/George's Dock Gates/St Nicholas Place/Chapel Street.

Cameras will also be in place at Lime Street between Skelhorne Street and St George's Place to enforce the bus only route. This route is currently barriered and is set to open in the New Year.

2 'School streets' (for Greenbank Primary School and Much Woolton Primary School) will also see APNR cameras become operational in the New Year, at Arlington Avenue from Greenbank Road and Arlington Avenue from Nicander Road; Watergate Lane from Woodrock Road and Watergate Way from Priorsfield Road.

As part of Road Safety Week, members of the Council's Highways team will be visiting the City's Schools to raise awareness about the Highway Code. The team will be at Fazakerley Primary on:- Monday, 20 November 2023, and as part of their safety session will be helping pupils conduct Speed Surveys on Longmoor Lane.

Councillor Dan Barrington, Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change, said:- "Road Safety is of paramount importance to the Council. Too many accidents occur on our roads for us to just sit back and do nothing. These new powers to enforce moving traffic contraventions just part of a wider programme to improve road safety across the City. These new APNR cameras will enable us to enforce the Highway Code and improve behaviours at key junctions, but we want to give people time to get used to these new rules which is why we are having a fine amnesty until the New Year. Our overall aim is to educate people to be more patient behind the wheel, and ideally encourage people to think twice about using the car at all. Most car journeys in the City are under 5km, many of which could be done by alternative methods. That's why as a Council we're supporting moves to improve public transport and why we're investing millions of pounds in active travel infrastructure to make it easier and safer to walk and cycle more often."

LOCAL Authorities across England will benefit from almost £267 million of Government funding next year to improve drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services.  The funding, which will be rolled out in April 2024, will enable Local Authorities to:-

• Recruit more specialised staff to work with people with drug and alcohol problems.
   

• Support more prison leavers into treatment and recovery services.

Help reduce crime by increasing the number of people receiving structured drug and alcohol treatment, as well as improving the quality of treatment provided, which in turn helps make streets safer by getting people out of drug use addictions which is known to drive offending.

Health Minister Neil O'Brien said:- "Drug addiction drives about half of all crimes, so by investing in high quality and greater availability of treatment we can reduce crime rates and save lives. We aim to raise the number of people getting drug and alcohol treatment to a record high by investing through the long term investment we've been making over the last 3 years. Today's allocations will see £267 million go directly to Local Authorities and their partners to improve services, increase capacity and quality of treatment and recovery systems, and is based on the recommendations made by Dame Carol Black in her independent review."

More people will benefit from residential rehabilitation or inpatient detoxification, while improvements to the recovery services will sustain people's treatment and help to reduce relapse rates.

This funding is in addition to £95.4 million made available in:- 2022 to 2023, and £154.3 million for this year; with an overall additional investment of £421 million into drug and alcohol treatment since April 2022.

From Harm to Hope, published in December 2021, sets out the Government's 10 year ambition to ensure as many people as possible can get the treatment they need by significantly increasing the number of treatment places and recovery services.

Over the 1st 3 years of the strategy, the additional investment in treatment and recovery will help prevent nearly 1,000 drug related deaths; reversing the upward trend in drug deaths for the 1st time in a decade.

The strategy also sets out that illegal drug use such as heroin and crack addiction are connected to half of all homicides, and nearly half of all burglaries, robberies and other acquisitive crimes. Dame Carol Black's independent review of drugs found the best way to tackle this issue is by boosting the capacity of the treatment and recovery system.

Professor Dame Carol Black, independent adviser to the Government on combating drug misuse, said:- "A key aim of my report was to make sure vulnerable people with substance misuse problems can access the support and tools needed to recover and lead full lives. Today's allocations of almost £267 will go directly to Local Authorities and their partners, meaning they can deliver treatment that is tailored to meet local needs. The end goal is to get many people into world class recovery and treatment system, reduce drug use and drug related crime; and ultimately save lives."

Delivering quality treatment provision is core to recovery, and in addition to this significant investment additional grant funding has gone into accommodation and employment support.

The Government's work to clamp down on the criminal gangs profiting from the trade in illegal drugs is backed by £300 million investment (over 3 years). Since the County Lines Programme was launched in 2019, Police activity has resulted in over 4,700 lines closed, 14,800 arrests, and 7,200 safeguarding referrals.

Examples of the work supported in:- 2023 to 2024 include:-

• Lancashire launched a specific service to support women affected by problem alcohol and drug use who are engaged in the criminal justice system. This included targeted support within Police custody suites, enhanced support to help women engage in treatment and provide safe spaces for women to access mental health support.
   

• Halton has further strengthened its investment in its recovery support services and recovery community, including:- the expansion of their Recovery Café in Widnes;a service user and volunteer led initiative in Widnes, which supports people in their recovery.
   

• In Devon, the Local Authorities have expanded its early support response to young people who have been identified with co-occurring substance use and mental ill health through providing a 7 day week service. Targeted key workers and a specialist Nurses will provide rapid assessment of young people admitted to hospital and expediate access to alcohol and drug treatment.
   

• Hartlepool has established a non-fatal overdose (NFO) team to improve service response to people vulnerable to death. This specialist team proactively engage the community of people identified at higher risk of overdose, as well as accepting referrals for people who have recently experienced an NFO. The team offer brief, intensive, interventions aiming to reduce the risk of repeated overdose.