Community Speed Watch

The next steps to getting involved and how to start a scheme.

Next steps

Only a parish council, or district council, within Leicestershire must request to become part of the scheme. Register your interest with the Community Speed Watch Co-ordinator.

Parish/district councils must:

  • Appoint a Community Speed Watch Co-ordinator (CSWC), and a Community Speed Watch Co-ordinator Deputy (CSWD). These people must have access to a computer and be proficient in Excel to submit survey data to the Police daily during the scheme.
  • Recruit at least other 7 Community Speed Watch Volunteers (CSWV) who are available multiple times over the two-week scheme period.
  • Provide a suitable venue for CSW training.
  • Identify four locations of concern where CSW activity is proposed, following the location guidance below.

Location guidance

CSW activity can only take place in areas with 30 or 40 mph speed limits. Each selected location must allow volunteers to stand at least 200 metres (656 feet) from the start, end, or change in speed limit.

CSW cannot be conducted in locations with:

  • Traffic calming measures (eg. chicanes, speed tables, pedestrian islands, altered lane markings)
  • Average or fixed speed cameras
  • Enforced Community Concern sites (eg. speed camera van locations)
  • Obstructions to clear line of sight (eg. bus shelters, foliage)
  • 20 mph speed limits
  • Inadequate footpaths (less than 2 metres wide) that prevent safe volunteer positioning

Training requirements

If your parish has received CSW training within the last three years and you feel confident delivering the training independently, we will provide you the training materials to do so, this must happen two-weeks before the scheme starts, if you are successful in your application.

Scheme support

Volunteers will be instructed to record vehicles exceeding the speed limit by 10% plus 2 mph, in line with National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) guidelines. This means recording vehicles travelling at 35 mph and above in a 30-mph zone, and 46 mph and above in a 40-mph zone.