Plans to ban car cruising on busy Staffordshire road backed by more than 150 people

Stafford Borough Council is planning to impose a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) along the A34 between Trentham and Junction 14 of the M6 to tackle issues that have sparked several complaints and requests for police attendance.

A three-week consultation on the proposed order met with 186 responses to the council.

And 93 per cent of those responses were in favour of the measure, which would ban car cruising and car meets along the area covered by the order for three years, a report to Thursday’s cabinet meeting said.

It added: “Over a six-month period there have been over 40 complaints and requests for police attendance regarding this matter. The behaviour causes noise nuisance and road safety concerns in the locality.

“Although Community Protection Warnings have been issued to people involved in these activities, a more robust way would be to prohibit the activity using a Public Spaces Protection Order. Public safety of legitimate road users is paramount and therefore any activity that threatens this needs to be stopped.

“Other powers have been considered including a high court injunction like that operational in the West Midlands, but ruled out due to prohibitive costs. A pan-Staffordshire approach would be an ideal way of addressing this issue so there is consistency across borders – this is being explored.”

Cabinet members will be asked to approve the new PSPO at Thursday’s meeting. At a previous cabinet meeting in May Councillor Jill Hood, cabinet member for community, shared her experiences as a Stone resident who had witnessed the issues on the A34.

She said: "I’ve watched them taunt each other as they’ve slowed right down, then accelerate to ridiculous speeds to race. As someone who lives on the car cruising route, I can tell you it’s very noisy and can be heard from miles around.

“If left unchallenged, families living on the estates close to the business park where they meet, have to put up with shouting over the noises of revving engines for long periods of time. They suffer sleep deprivation and it can be quite debilitating.”

One supporter of the PSPO plans said: “These cars cause a nuisance to the residents, other road users and the police. Residents should not have to put up with the loud exhausts and revving of vehicles, especially during the evenings.

“I have personally seen these vehicles speeding along the A34 and there have been near misses with other road users going about their usual day to day business. The police being deployed to deal with these people is taking them away from other important incidents they should be dealing with.”

Another said: “The PSPO will be invaluable in that it will instrumental in saving lives. Many times both myself and my daughters have been subject to intimidation from the drivers of the cars if we dare to be driving long the A34 at the same time that they wish to be racing.”

But an objector to the proposed order said: “The A34 brings many car and bike enthusiasts to the area and implementing a PSPO would further drive people away from Stone. The George and Dragon pub which sits on the A34 also has regular car and bike meets and this would likely be detrimental to the business in an an already struggling sector.”

Another objector said: “This would potentially ban motorcycle and car meets/cruises with participants who are respectful to other road users and local residents. There is already legislation to deal with inappropriate use of vehicles, racing on the public highway, disturbance of the peace.

“The existing PSPO that applies in the borough already overreaches restricting the freedoms of respectful people who abide by it and lacks exemptions, for example no allowances made for disabled people who rely on a bicycle to access Stafford town centre. Without seeing the wording of (the) proposed PSPO I could not possibly support it.”