Drivers under the influence of drugs including nitrous oxide a growing problem in Calderdale

Coun Amanda Parsons-Hulse (Lib Dem, Warley) said she had received numerous complaints in the past few months about speeding, especially around Moor End Road, Heath Hill Road and Newlands Road in her ward.

There had also been a serious accident in the area where young people using nitrous oxide had lost control of a car at a corner, ploughing into the wall of a resident’s home.

At the questions-to-Cabinet-members section of a reconvened full Calderdale Council meeting, she said: “It is becoming increasingly worse – can you tell us what you intend to do about this situation.

“How do you plan to deal with this dangerous driving and what are you doing about the use of nitrous oxide?”

Cabinet member for Public Services and Communities, Coun Jenny Lynn (Lab, Park) said it was a really important issue for the borough’s Community Safety Partnership (CSP), of which she was co-chair.

The CSP had provided an ongoing significant amount of money towards West Yorkshire Police’s Operation Hawmill – which targets issues including dangerous driving – with additional traffic police deployed until the early hours of the morning to try and catch people in the act, she said.

The council’s own Safer, Cleaner, Greener teams had regular meetings where councillors and partner organisations could advise the police of priorities they wanted to see tackled in the following six to eight weeks.

These had often been helpful in identifying areas where there were problems, said Coun Lynn.

“Similarly, your reference to people driving under the influence of drugs, clearly that is a problem in some areas, with some horrible consequences,” she said.

Coun Lynn urged councillors to make use of the Safer, Cleaner, Greener meetings and said she would take up the issues with the CSP.

* Support your Halifax Courier by becoming a digital subscriber. You will see 70 per cent fewer ads on stories, meaning faster load times and an overall enhanced user experience. Click here to subscribe