Quarter One Update

On 3rd April 2019 3 members of the CANS committee, Dr Jonathan Moore and Rob Baldock, attended the second forum to find solutions to the anti-social motorbike noise and speed in our local area. The forum was established at the end of 2018 and brings together all relevant bodies to find solutions to this longstanding problem and make the area unattractive to the minority of motorcyclists who abuse the law. It is chaired by CANS (Communities Against Noise and Speed) and includes members of the Police, representatives of our local MPs, the County Council and Winchester City Council.

The general consensus is complete agreement there is an issue in the area but we were all very clear it does only relate to a small group of individuals. Discussions with the Police identified one great difficulty we face is these individuals are very experienced in operating outside of the law and manipulating legislation such that it becomes almost valueless. However, the Police are extremely supportive and were very clear they will continue to try and implement the law within the constraints they face.

Key updates are:

• Discussions on various types of cameras are ongoing but because of the high cost of both installation and operations immediate progression is currently prohibitive. However, a number of alternative options are being investigated both by the authorities and CANS.
• An update from the Police on their upcoming plans for the start of the motorcycle season, which due to operational reasons we cannot promote.
• The County Council are investigating additional traffic calming initiatives and will be producing a list of affordable options which villages and parishes can consider acquiring for their areas though local funding.
• Current legislation on vehicle noise is inadequate and we shared ideas on how this may be amended for the future but other national events are currently dominating the political agenda!
• There are a number of other areas we are going to investigate around antisocial behaviour and other current legislation.

On one hand the meeting was frustrating because there was no major progression but on reflection there were a number of smaller actions which are being taken by the authorities which may have a longer-term positive influence.