In December 2019 Catherine Pritchard was appointed as the new Chief Inspector for Widnes and upon taking up the new role, she told Runcorn & Widnes World;

"I am really pleased to take up the role and am looking forward to working with the local community.

"The key to local policing is developing and keeping up the strong relationship with the local community.

"I am very keen for the public to contact me if they have any crime-related issues or concerns.

On Thursday 28th November 2019 a meeting took place at Widnes Police Station with Mr David Keane Cheshire Police Crime Commissioner, the new Chief Inspector Catherine Pritchard and members of the Moorfield Road Residents Action Group. Chief Inspector Catherine Pritchard told residents the force would continue to treat Moorfield Road as a priority area for speed enforcement and roads policing activity. She also assured us that Cheshire Police would undertake a focussed period of action and increase the visible Police presence on Moorfield Road until drivers get the message. Unfortunately this hasn’t happened and various members of the Action Group wrote to the Chief Inspector to complain regarding the lack of action and asking specific questions relating to issues raised at the meeting. These questions remain unanswered and she has now passed all responsibility to the new local beat Sergeant Amanda Moore. So much for Chief Inspector Catherine Pritchard’s above comments!

We have now received a somewhat dismissive and defensive email from Sergeant Moore introducing herself as our point of contact from this point on. We were not happy with the contents of her email and the following response has been sent back to her by one of our members;

1.  Whilst we appreciate that various signage has been installed along Moorfield Road, at the end of the day this has absolutely no effect on the dangerous driving habits of the vast majority of vehicles using Moorfield Road.

2.  As part of the our concerted campaign, Halton Borough Council, who I believe after discussions with Cheshire Police, eventually agreed to class Moorfield Road as a high risk area and to install the parking bay at the Mill Lane end of Moorfield Road. The pavement was lowered towards the end of last year but the 'Police vehicles only' was only painted within the last two weeks. As part of this new initiative, we were also promised five new speed and Police camera signs which as yet have not been erected.

3.  During our various correspondence and meetings with Cheshire Police and our local PC, we were promised that a full operation over a number of days would be conducted by the Cheshire Police Road Traffic Department. Despite several subsequent requests from the action group this operation has still not taken place.

4.  During the PCC meeting held at Widnes Police Station in November, various promises were made by Cheshire Police about increasing true cam visits and also arranging for increased visits from the Mobile Camera van. You have stated that the true cam has been used 9 times since October. In the ten weeks since the meeting, I would guess that less than half of the stated nine true cam visits have taken place in this period and we have only seen the Mobile camera van twice. During this ten week period, various members of our Action Group have seen the Mobile Camera van on numerous occasions at two points around Penketh. Why is it that Warrington Police can get so much attendance for these positions, yet we have been designated as a high risk area and have seen very little attendance?

5.  With regards to the SID camera sited on the railway bridge on Moorfield Road, two of our members witnessed an employee of Halton Borough Council working on the said SID in September 2019. From that point, the camera indication board has not been working correctly, as not all vehicles are being recorded and we can see that vehicles being recorded at between 30 to 40mph are travelling at a much higher speed.

6.  With regards to your comment about motorists reducing their speed, this is completely contradicted by the reports generated from the SID which consistently show that over 40% of vehicles (approximately 625000 per year) are travelling in excess of the 30mph speed limit and many thousands of vehicles travelling at dangerously high speeds every year. This 40%+ figure is diluted by the vehicles turning left out of Camberwell Park Road which cannot reach 30mph by the time they reach the SID on the railway bridge. Do you really believe that these figures show that motorists are reducing speeds? I do not think so.

7. As part of my email sent yesterday of which you were a recipient, I attached a link for the petition that our group organised with regards to the ongoing road traffic issues on Moorfield Road. There are currently 221 signatures on this petition. I also suggested that the recipients should read the comments made by various people but especially the one made by the lollipop lady for Moorfield Primary School which made worrying reading. Perhaps a quick visit to this lady to discuss her concerns would show how bad the situation is on Moorfield Road?

8.  The option of resident Speed watch was offered to us at the PCC meeting in November. Whilst there was initial interest from some members of our group, they have decided not to take up this offer as we have seen first-hand abuse being thrown at a PCSO whilst performing their duties and we value our own personal safety.

9.  We have continually said that we appreciate the fact that you have limited resources and that you have to consider the needs of other areas. The nine true cam visits over a 19 week period normally consist of a 30/60 minute period per visit. Despite being assured on a number of occasions that our road would be treated as high priority, we do not feel that this amount of time is sufficient. We would like to request that more PCSO visits take place and that the Mobile camera van is requested on a more regular basis. As part of this, we would like to request that the visits take place at the later times as and when the lighter evenings allow.

Whilst we do really appreciate that Cheshire Police do as much as they can with limited resources, we have been promised various initiatives which have not been delivered. That is why there is a sense of dissatisfaction from members of our Group. If we saw the things that were promised, we would not be in a position to complain and having to send emails like this.

Halton Borough Council and Leader Rob Polhill have still yet to respond to this petition as of today, but we are not holding our breath!

Could we please ask you to get as many of your friends and family to sign our petition, as only numbers might get the Authorities to take notice of our community.