THE council has confirmed it is considering installing CCTV cameras in Thamesdown Drive in a bid to clampdown on reckless motorists.

Following persistent protests from residents and a recommendation from Police and Crime Commissioner Angus Macpherson, the council has vowed to implement safety measures on the notoriously dangerous road.

Although Mr Macpherson has made it clear that he fully backs the installation of speed cameras and cameras to monitor traffic light offences, the council has stopped short of agreeing to such a proposal and is instead looking at CCTV cameras to monitor driver behaviour.

A Swindon Borough Council spokesman said: “The police remain responsible for enforcement of speeding and red light running offences but, following discussions at the Wiltshire and Swindon Road Safety Partnership, the council has agreed to look at installing CCTV at key locations on Thamesdown Drive.

“This will allow driver behaviour to be monitored and images passed to the police for further action should an incident take place.”

Mr Macpherson chairs the Road Safety Partnership group, at which the installation of cameras in Thamesdown Drive has been an ongoing agenda item.

He said: “The chief constable and I support the implementation of such a scheme and we have been discussing ways to implement this effectively, and fund it.

“At the last meeting we agreed that the sergeant for road safety would contact Swindon Borough Council for conformation that they wanted to go ahead with such a scheme and then move to implement this.

“We are revisiting the business case completed some years ago on the financial viability of a camera enforcement scheme.

“To have such cameras directed at traffic light offences as well as speeding offences would be the goal.”

There have been a number of accidents on the 40mph road in recent months. In February firefighters had to use cutting equipment to free a person trapped in a vehicle after a collision.

And just a month earlier a man suffered an arm injury after a smash between a Ford Transit van and Ford Focus.

At a residents’ meeting last year, people made their views crystal clear.

While speeding was an underlying concern for many, it was the frequency of red light jumping and amber chancing that many said was their greatest cause for concern.

Swindon Borough Council can not at this stage indicate when the CCTV cameras are likely to be installed.