Alderley Edge: Anti-social supercars targeted by noise camera
- Published
Cheshire Police cannot yet use the camera to issue fines for noisy vehicles
A camera which will record cars that are being driven too loudly has been installed in a Cheshire village.
The noise-activated camera has been put in on the A34 outside Alderley Edge after complaints about super cars and car meets.
Cheshire East Council and the county's Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) will gather information on cars which go above "acceptable" noise levels.
Thirty-eight offenders have been identified in the first nine days.
They will get warning letters but Cheshire Police is not yet able to issue fines for noisy vehicles.
The PCC's office is funding the camera's trial, while the council has paid for the installation.
'Fed up'
Craig Browne, Alderley Edge councillor and chair of Cheshire East Council's highways and transport committee said the village "welcomes nice cars, but some of the high performance vehicles are causing us a problem".
"It's rather the way the vehicles are being driven, it's not the vehicles themselves."
He said it was "an excellent use of the council's funding" despite budget constraints, because residents were "really fed up".
Mr Browne said he hoped other areas, such as Wilmslow would benefit, and once the camera's trial had been shown to be "successful", similar cameras could be introduced elsewhere.
The council is also introducing traffic-calming measures in the centre of Alderley Edge and a 20mph zone.
Insp Anton Sullivan from Cheshire Police's roads and crime unit said the camera would "give us information about those individuals who are using their vehicles in an anti-social manner", but it would also inform the force when to put out patrols.
Cheshire PCC John Dwyer said: "We find not only the noise levels being breached but also identifying people undertaking, overtaking, careless driving, so there's more coming out of this than I first imagined.
"I thought it was just noise but we're getting evidence of other offences."
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