A new Ashton councillor has made good on one of his election promises by beginning to tackle speeding in the Hurst area.

Dan Costello won the seat at the 2021 elections in May and in his interview with the Reporter following the win, promised to tackle the problem of speeding drivers in his ward.

Now, he’s taken the first steps along that road after he organised a speed check session last month.

Working with the local Hurst Policing and others from Greater Manchester Police’s (GMP) Tameside North and East Division, Cllr Costello organised speed checking sessions on St Albans Avenue, Broadoak Road, Ladbroke Road and Lees Road. 

They were armed with hand-held speed guns and were assisted by a team of officers further along the road who could pull over any found speeding. More than 200 checks were taken, with a number of speeding drivers caught.

Cllr Costello told the Reporter: “I promised to get straight on with it so I did. I got in touch with our local policing team and also with the relevant areas at the council.

“We had the hand-held speed gun, which I got a go on and was very exciting. It’s a lot harder to do than you think, it’s really difficult so I have the utmost respect for police who manage to do that much more effectively than I did.

“People were very positive saying thanks for doing it. There was some feedback that maybe it wasn’t the right time of day, because it was the middle of the day, and so not the peak times for speeding.”

Cllr Costello says that with the local team now trained on the hand-held speed gun, they can set up any time, anywhere, meaning that they will be a more active deterrent

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Despite this, the councillor says it is not a one size fits all solution.

“One thing that I’m finding with this is that there is no perfect solution and I’ve always been honest with the people of Hurst about that,” he said.

“I’m not going to wave a magic wand and fix this. Whatever we do there will always be someone who speeds, we’re not going to get rid of it entirely, but I think we need to focus on three things. 

“One is that active deterrent, linked to that I think is effective enforcement and then effective traffic calming measures. 

“I think it’s an holistic approach of all three things that should really improve this problem.”

Traffic calming measures were first investigated two years ago, after an incident where a car left the road on St Albans Avenue and crashed into the front room of a house. 

However, no action has yet been taken - something that the new councillor says he has taken up with the council.

“There were plans drawn up for traffic calming measures on St Albans Avenue,” he said.

“There were three different proposals: speed bumps, a longer speed plateau and a pinch point to reduce traffic to a single lane. 

“I shared the plans on social media and I asked the council to follow them up. I don’t know why the plans have been shelved. I’ve asked for that discussion to be reopened.

“My message is simple: we don’t want reckless driving or excessive speed on our roads. Neither are welcome here. 

“As a local resident, and as a father, I share the concerns of many of my constituents about the dangers that speeding cars pose and the high possibility of a severe accident. 

“We must do all we can to ensure this doesn’t happen and to keep our roads safe for all in our community to use.”

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