A POLICE commissioner has unveiled plans to enlist academics to help redesign efforts to tackle speeding across North Yorkshire.

Philip Allott, who was elected North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner in May, said he aimed to enable the force to deal with safety on rural roads, but with more than 6,000 miles of roads and 800 villages to cover, demand for enforcement was outstripping police resources.

Mr Allott was speaking to North Yorkshire County Council’s Richmondshire constituency committee following years of controversy surrounding North Yorkshire Police’s speed camera vans.

While fixed speed cameras have repeatedly been deemed an unsuitable solution for the largely rural county, the force has insisted the vans are used to deter speeding at sites of accidents.

Julia Mulligan, Mr Allott’s predecessor, frequently defended the use of the vans and denied they were a revenue generator.

After being elected Mr Allott said there were “big concerns” over the vans, which were introduced in 2011.

He told the constituency committee while speeding was a prominent issue for residents, the force had just 35 traffic officers to oversee enforcement.

Mr Allott said: “The issue for us is that for the safety camera vans there are 750 sites for 12 vans plus two motorcycle units, and they can’t possibly go to every location.”

He said universities had been invited to tender to review how speed limits are enforced in the county and he was hopeful work to come up with alternatives would shortly get underway. He said in the meantime he wanted elected community representatives to be able to direct police towards the areas of concern.

Mr Allott said: “What I would like to move towards is a position where if you say I want the camera van to go out here or there, you can have that as a councillor three times a year.”