Bromley Cross councillors join forces with police to tackle speeding

Cllr Nadim Muslim and Cllr Samantha Connor accompanied officers from GMP Bolton North as they conducted roadside checks.

Motorists are being warned that such exercises to curb speeding will continue - during the day and night.

Councillors have outlined their plans to crackdown on reckless motorists following concerns raised by members of the public.

Cllr Muslim and Cllr Connor were with police at Blackburn Road and Chapeltown Road and they say they are aware other roads need monitoring with such operations continuing.

Cllr Muslim said: “Speeding has been a big concern for residents over a number of months now and perhaps some people deem it to be longer than that.

“In the middle of last year we set about putting together a three-point plan to tackle speeding in Bromley Cross and Egerton to try and make a difference in the area.

“That was following a meeting we had with GMP in July last year.

“Firstly, it was to arrange a public meeting with officers from Greater Manchester Police, Bolton Council, and councillors, so that residents could come and hear directly about the solutions we have but it also gave residents the chance to raise their concerns as well, so we could actually make a difference.  The meeting took place in September, and it was a packed room.

“The second part of our plan was to get more speed operations happening in Bromley Cross and Egerton and at the meeting that we had, GMP said they were going to get trained up to use the speed gun so they could then deploy that out in our area because otherwise you’re relying on trained officers from elsewhere in the borough to support.

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Cllr Nadim Muslim with GMP officers (Image: Cllr Nadim Muslim)“Moving into the new year the officers were trained in using the speed gun and being able to pull people over, so once that was in place, we said to GMP we need to crack on with some speed operations.

“The third part of our plan is to bring community speed watch into our area.

“So that was why we were out with police this week.

“February 12 was the third operation that GMP have done in the areas, there weren’t any operations in Bromley Cross and Egerton last year, so this is us delivering on our second pledge to see more operations in the areas.

“We are going to do another one within a months’ time and this is going to be a rolling programme of speed operations.

“This time we wanted to go and see first hand what is actually happening and what is the data coming up, are people actually speeding and where are the hotspots and just understand how it works ourselves really.

“In future when we get more lighter evenings and longer days police will be going out in the early mornings and late evenings as we are aware that a lot of speeding happens very early morning or later in the night past 7 or 8pm.

“So, we will be able to go out more at those times when things do get lighter.

“This is just the start of the programme; more is yet to come.”

Cllr Muslim said whilst they were out with police, the maximum speed clocked was 33 miles per hour which is a ‘good thing’.

He said: “Whilst we were out the highest speed, we clocked was 33 miles per hour which was on Blackburn Road and two locations on Chapeltown Road, one by Turton and one by Jumbles.

“So, 33 miles per hour was the highest speed clocked but I suppose that is a good thing, not catching people can be a good thing as it shows that the majority of people are not speeding, it is a minority.”

If you have a story or something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at chloe.wilson@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on X @chloewjourno.