A senior councillor has backed calls for action to tackle boy racers turning a Stoke-on-Trent road into a race track.

Nearly 200 people signed a petition asking for safety measures such as speed cameras to be installed on Reginald Mitchell Way, between the A500 and Sandyford, which is regularly plagued with car cruising and street racing.

The issue is now set to be raised with Police and Crime Commissioner Ben Adams after the campaign gained the support of a cabinet member at Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

Lead petitioner Chandra Kanneganti, ward councillor for the area, told scrutiny committee members at Stoke-on-Trent City Council that urgent action was needed before a serious accident happened. Councillor Finlay Gordon-McCusker, cabinet member for transport, said he sympathised with residents and promised to raise the issue at Staffordshire Safer Roads Partnership (SSRP), chaired by Mr Adams, which decides where speed cameras are installed.

Chandra Kanneganti said urgent action was needed before a serious accident happened (Image supplied).

Members of the housing, development and growth scrutiny committee also suggested that the council could talk to the police about pursuing an injunction, similar to the one which was used to tackle the problem at Festival Park. Cllr Kanneganti told the committee that police efforts to tackle the issue so far, such as dispersal notices and mobile speed cameras, had only had a limited impact.

He said: "Since 2021, Reginald Mitchell Way has become a very dangerous race track. These reckless drivers come and meet up, with spectators, and do donuts and race. A number of my residents are struggling with this, not just with the noise, but sometimes they cannot get out of their estate. It's just an accident waiting to happen. It's creating an extreme risk.

"I've met with the police, and they have carried out actions such as dispersal notices, and visiting the area at the weekend. What we're calling for is for speed cameras to be installed urgently on Reginald Mitchell Way, for regular police patrols, and for vehicles to be seized if they're being used in an anti-social way.

"The dispersal notices were issued four or five times, and they only last up to 48 hours, which wasn't enough. It was quite for a while, but then the boy racers came back again. They need more of a deterrent."

Cllr Gordon-McCusker said that the city council only had limited powers to tackle the issue (Nub News).

Cllr Gordon-McCusker said that the city council only had limited powers to tackle the issue affecting Reginald Mitchell Way, which were also being seen in other parts of Stoke-on-Trent.

He said: "The speed cameras and patrols aren't within our remit. I'd love to be able to install a speed camera there, as well as other locations in the city, but I can't. I will be happy, as the council's representative on the Safer Roads Partnership, to raise this issue with the commissioner.

"The more enforcement we can get the better, and the less chance of accidents happening. In my opinion, speed cameras are the best way of slowing people down."

Cllr Gordon-McCusker also told the committee that officers were looking at the possibility of councillors being allowed to use part of their ward budget on the temporary deployment of speed indication devices on affected roads.

Committee members supported the issue being raised at the SSRP, and also called for the council to discuss with the police the possibility of an injunction on Reginald Mitchell Way.

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