Council seeks views to tackle anti-social late-night car meets
RESIDENTS have been invited to share their views on the rise in unauthorised car meets.
The online survey, set up by Wokingham Borough Council, is also an opportunity to give suggestions on how the council should respond.
Car meets have been a growing source of nuisance to Wokingham residents in recent months, and are associated with dangerous driving, racing, and aggressive acceleration and braking.
Residents have also been subjected to the sound of horns, loud music, bad language and threatening behaviour.
Between January 2021, and January this year, 82 incidents were reported either to the council or Thames Valley Police.
Most frequently they have taken place at the Carnival Hub car park in Wokingham, the Meroak Park and Ride near Three Mile Cross and supermarket car parks across the borough.
And there was a protest held by residents outside Carnival Pool multi-storey car park earlier this year to allow residents to express their frustrations over noise and speeding.
A number of drivers also attended to hold their own counter demonstration, and meet with police officers.
Adopting a Car Cruising Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) is one way the council could respond, and this would give it greater power to tackle dangerous and anti-social behaviour.
A PSPO would give the council power to respond to car cruising, when drivers meet to race or show off their vehicles.
The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 gives power to restrict an activity, such as car cruising, if it has a detrimental effect on resident’s quality of life, or is persistent or ongoing.
Under the Act, the council can set blanket restrictions and requirements, restrict access to public spaces, and set targeted restrictions and requirements against certain behaviours.
If a PSPO is created, anyone not complying could be fined up to £1,000 or receive a fixed penalty notice of up to £100.
Cllr Ian Shenton, executive member for environment, sport and leisure said: “We want to ensure Wokingham Borough continues to be a safe place for our residents and the behaviour associated with these car meets completely goes against that.
“Some of the people who attend these gatherings show little or no regard for the people around them and we want to send a clear message that we are serious about tackling this extremely anti-social behaviour.”
The council proposes that all land maintained or managed by the local authority should be covered under the PSPO, as well as other public spaces.
Some of the activities the order would prohibit drivers from doing include causing danger or risk of injury to road users, applying aggressive acceleration and racing.
It would also prohibit playing loud music and using threatening or intimidating behaviour.
It would also be an offence to promote, organise, publicise or attend an unauthorised car meet event.
The online survey will run from Tuesday, June 7, to Sunday, July 19 and is available via the council’s online platform, Engage Wokingham Borough.