ACCRINGTON'S top police officer today hit back at critics who called for the removal of speed cameras in Hyndburn, saying the public wanted them.

Inspector Phil Cottam, Accrington's police commander, said many of the cameras in Hyndburn had been erected in response to community concerns.

But road safety campaigners say to put cameras up just because people ask for them is an ad hoc approach to traffic calming and not in the interests of road safety.

Calls came earlier this week as it was revealed that 53 speed cameras in East Lancashire -- five of them in Hyndburn -- could be incompatible with new government guidelines on siting cameras.

The Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety (LPRS) defended its 320 fixed cameras, saying every camera would stand up to scrutiny as the new rules only affected new cameras, not existing sites.

Among the criteria, coming into force in April, for installing a speed camera is a statistic of four deaths or serious accidents in the vicinity in the last few years.

But Inspector Cottam said the public had asked for many of those cameras to be put in place: "One thing that concerned me was a lot of the locations for speed cameras in Hyndburn, for example Baxenden, have been chosen because of community concern," he said.

"When I go to meetings I get harangued by the public about speeding vehicles and by people asking for speed cameras to be installed.

"There are not just casualty figures that go with this, there is also community concern. That's something that strikes me all the time when I go to meetings."

Five cameras in Hyndburn have come under public scrutiny, including two in Baxenden, one in Hyndburn Road, Accrington, one in Whalley Road, Clayton-le-Moors, and the infamous camera in Whalley Road, Great Harwood.

Insp Cottam said: "At the last meeting of Baxenden Area Council when the second speed camera had been put up there was actually a round of applause. People said it had made such a big difference in their lives and both councillors were very complimentary about the location.

"I have still got people in Hollins Lane and Sandy Lane and all roads leading into Huncoat who are quite vociferous in pressing for some form of traffic calming or speeding deterrent."

Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation, the association's campaigning arm, said: "The problem with that kind of approach is there is no real strategy behind it and to make the best use of cameras you need to target them where they are most needed, not where they are most shouted for.

"An ad hoc approach of putting them here and there because someone says they want one is no approach. It doesn't follow Department of Transport guidelines and it's not in the interests of safety. It would be far more effective to put them on busy junctions where people jump the lights."