SPEED Indicator Devices (SIDs) are set to be positioned around Andover after the town council approved their purchase last week.

In September 2020, Andover Town Council set aside a budget of £13,825 to be spent on speed indicator devices which collect vehicle speed data. They later secured an additional £1,000 of Hampshire County Council funding towards the scheme.

The agreed locations for the signs were Picket Piece, London Road, Weyhill Road, Winchester Road, and Salisbury Road.

READ MORE: Andover Town Council to purchase speed indicator signs

However, at a full council meeting last week (Wednesday, March 23), officers put forward a recommendation from the authority’s planning committee, that the town council purchase just two SIDS.

They said that the devices must be removed every three weeks and not returned for between six and eight weeks, therefore they could be rotated around the different locations.

The committee said: “This would enable cost savings and no storage cost requirement for those SIDs that won’t be in use.”

The devices will cost £3,480 each, plus an additional £350 per device for a bluetooth data collection pack, bringing the total spend to £7,660.

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Speaking at the meeting, Cllr David Coole said that the recommendation “falls short” of the “vision” put forward by Cllr Richard Rowles, who was mayor at the time, in 2019.

However, current mayor Cllr Barbara Long responded: “I personally think it’s better to get some up, and then try and move forward to where we actually want to be.”

The proposal was passed with eight votes for and three abstentions.