A ROW has erupted at Staffordshire County Council after a councillor accused the Reform UK administration of only looking after areas where its members were elected.
Cllr Alex Farrell, Conservative member for Lichfield Rural South, has questioned delays to the installation of new speed indication devices (SIDs) in his division.
Despite parish councils having money available to purchase the equipment, permission to install them needs to be granted by the county council.
Cllr Farrell said at a recent council meeting:
“Anything we can do to make our transport network safer and also run without delay I think is really important.
“An item I’d like to bring up is what we know as SIDs. I believe recently a change of policy means that SIDs are not being approved or being approved a lot less.
“I’ve got two examples in my area, one in Drayton Bassett, where they’ve received some funding for a speed indication device on Drayton Lane – which is a very fast lane – and also in Shenstone. I’ve been working with Shenstone Against Speed and also the Stonnall Campaign About Roads.
“Both of them are very concerned about speeding in the area. We’ve done various speed tests and the parish council in that area would like to fund a SID or two out of their own money.
“In both cases the money for the SIDs is not coming from Staffordshire County Council, it’s coming from the parish council. But in both cases they’ve been denied by this council permission to put them in.”
However, Reform’s Cllr Craig Humphreys said that four devices have recently been installed in Penkridge.
But Cllr Farrell said that he was told in a recent meeting that the council are no longer giving permission due to a change in policy.
He said:
“I’m not sure that the situation about SIDs is because I’m hearing in Penkridge they’re being put in left, right and centre, yet in Lichfield Rural South I was told it’s policy that we are not putting in SIDs.
“So I’d like clarity on that or is it the case that Reform areas are getting SIDs but Conservative areas aren’t?”
Peter Mason, cabinet member for strategic highways said:
“There has been an initiative brought forward by the officers to try and standardise equipment across the county.
“This makes it a lot easier to maintain and understand and it may well give better buying power to all of our parish councils by us taking that decision.
“So there isn’t any stopping of SIDs going in but there was some time when they were holding off approving them so the SIDs arrangement and specifications could be agreed.”
