Help Tackle Speeding in Ferrensby: Your Voice Can Make a Difference

Ferrensby Parish Meeting has joined a growing number of communities across North Yorkshire calling for stronger action on rural speeding. At the time of writing, over 70 town and parish councils, along with Community Speed Watch groups, have added their names to a joint campaign: Average and Fixed Speed Cameras – North Yorkshire (AFSC-NY).

This campaign is gathering momentum, and we now need our residents to speak up to help bring meaningful change.

Why This Matters for Ferrensby

Speeding through Ferrensby has long been a concern. Like many villages in North Yorkshire, we’ve seen the dangers first-hand – drivers ignoring limits, noise from late-night racing, and near misses as well as collisionss at junctions or bends. Repeated efforts to raise these issues with highways and local authorities have not led to lasting solutions.

There are currently no average or fixed speed cameras in North Yorkshire, only 14 mobile speed vans serving the entire county – and these operate only during daylight hours. As many residents know, dangerous driving doesn’t stop when the sun goes down.

A County Falling Behind

Neighbouring counties use a more modern, blended approach, including fixed and average speed cameras, supported by mobile enforcement. Lancashire, for example, secured funding to install average speed cameras along the A682, but these cameras stop at the North Yorkshire border. North Yorkshire did not take part in that initiative.

In contrast to the rest of the country, recent figures (sourced via Freedom of Information requests) suggest that Killed and Seriously Injured (KSI) incidents in York and North Yorkshire increased by 54% between 2022 and 2023 – while many other counties saw improvements. Although this figure includes a wider area, it adds to a growing sense that our enforcement strategy isn’t working.

Making Ferrensby a Nicer Place to Live

But this is not just about road safety – it’s about what kind of place Ferrensby and rural North Yorkshire should be. In and around our village, green space is limited and pavements are patchy or non-existent. To reach public footpaths and bridleways, residents must often walk on the road itself, putting them in direct conflict with fast-moving traffic. In doing so, they are frequently met with abuse or dangerous driving from motorists who see the road as theirs alone. This car-first mindset needs to change.

On the continent – in countries like the Netherlands and Germany – residential and rural roads are treated as shared spaces, with traffic-calming design, visible enforcement, and a clear cultural expectation that drivers slow down and yield to people. That’s the direction we need to head in: streets for people, not just machines.

What Is Being Done?

The campaign group AFSC–NY has written to MPs across North Yorkshire, including Julian Smith MP for the Cowling area, asking for their support. Here in Ferrensby, we fall under the Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency, and our MP is Tom Gordon.

We are asking him – and other North Yorkshire MPs – to press for a more effective, consistent approach to speed enforcement. But this will only happen if residents make it clear that this issue matters.

How You Can Help

Please consider writing to Tom Gordon MP to express your support for improved speed enforcement in Ferrensby and across rural North Yorkshire.

Email: tom.gordon.mp@parliament.uk

Subject suggestion: Support for AFSC–NY Speeding Campaign

Here’s what you could say:

• That you support Ferrensby’s participation in the AFSC–NY campaign;
• That current mobile enforcement is not enough;
• That average and fixed cameras should be considered for hotspot roads;
• That you want to see real action, not continued inaction, on rural speeding.

The more residents who write, the more likely we are to see change.

Want to Learn More?

You can read the Newcastle University review commissioned by the Mayor’s Office here:

Road Safety Enforcement Review – Full Report (PDF)

It supports many of the changes being called for – especially the introduction of average speed cameras.

Let’s ensure that Ferrensby’s voice is heard. Speeding affects our quality of life, our safety, and our village character. Together, we can push for a smarter, safer approach.

Letter Suggestion

To: tom.gordon.mp@parliament.uk

Subject: Speeding in Ferrensby – Support for AFSC-NY Campaign

Dear Tom Gordon MP,

I am writing as a resident of Ferrensby, in your Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency, to ask for your backing in tackling the persistent problem of rural speeding.

Ferrensby has joined more than 70 town and parish councils and Community Speed Watch groups that support Average and Fixed Speed Cameras – North Yorkshire (AFSC-NY). The campaign is spearheaded by road-safety campaigner Gillian Taylor (mail.gillian.taylor@gmail.com) of Cowling.

Despite repeated requests to highways authorities, Ferrensby still endures dangerous speeds, both at village gateways, through the village and after dark. North Yorkshire relies on only fourteen daytime-only mobile speed vans for the whole county. This limited approach is failing our communities.

Neighbouring counties, such as Lancashire, already mix average and fixed speed cameras with mobile enforcement. North Yorkshire did not take part in the Department for Transport scheme that funded average speed cameras on the A682, so the cameras stop at our border.

Data obtained through Freedom of Information requests show a 54 percent rise in killed and seriously injured casualties across York and North Yorkshire between 2022 and 2023, whereas many other counties improved. These figures underline that the present strategy is not working.

This is not just about road safety – it is about what kind of place Ferrensby and rural North Yorkshire should be. In and around our village, green space is limited and pavements are often patchy or non-existent. To reach public footpaths and bridleways, residents must often walk on the road itself, putting them in direct conflict with fast-moving traffic. In doing so, they are frequently met with abuse or dangerous driving from motorists who see the road as theirs alone. This car-first mindset needs to change. On the continent – in countries like the Netherlands and Germany – residential and rural roads are treated as shared spaces, with traffic-calming design, visible enforcement, and a clear cultural expectation that drivers slow down and yield to people. That’s the direction we need to head in: streets for people, not just machines.

I therefore urge you to

• champion the AFSC-NY campaign in Parliament and with the North Yorkshire Mayor’s Office,
• push for funding and installation of average and fixed speed cameras at proven hotspots, and
• press the county council to develop a modern, evidence-led enforcement plan that includes night-time coverage.

Our village needs a consistent deterrent to protect residents’ safety and quality of life. I hope you will become a strong voice for meaningful change and I look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

[Your Name]

Ferrensby, North Yorkshire