WRECCLESHAM residents were asked to consider starting a community speedwatch scheme at the village society's annual general meeting last Friday. They were joined by Pc Andy Crane, Waverley casualty reduction officer, who explained how the scheme would work and fielded questions. Pc Crane told residents that Wrecclesham was one of a number of places in the borough which experienced reckless behaviour on the roads, in this case, speeding. He said that, ultimately, there needed to be a national "cultu re change" to permanently reduce incidents of speeding, but traffic- claming measures currently available would contribute to a change in attitude. Three measures were available to Wrecclesham in theory, but a fixed site (photographic) camera would require analysing lots of data about the number of accidents and casualties, while a limited number of interactive signs were being constantly moved around the region. That left the possibility of a community speedwatch scheme, requiring at least six local volunteers to be trained to use police speed-gun equipment and patrol a stretch of highway each week. Some residents in Wrecclesham Hill partly blamed the problem of speeding on overgrown trees and bushes covering speed limit signs at the entrance to the village, but they were told this was a Surrey County Council matter. Others pointed to a permanently installed interactive sign in Echo Barn Lane and asked for the same to appear in The Street or School Hill, but Pc Crane warned the installation of too many signs meant they would "become like wallpaper". Finally he tackled criticism that the scheme would not be effective, saying: "The letters sent out are only warning letters, but the point of community speedwatch is to empower residents to take action. "The presence of the scheme in Shamley Green has been enough to reduce the average speed of traffic to the designated speed limit. "But what we are also trying to do is reduce the reassurance gap in this area between residents' fear of crime and the much lower possibility of them becoming victims of crime." SCC representative for Farnham south, David Munro, listened to the talk and said afterwards: "Andy Crane explained the scheme extremely competently and the doubts I had have been set at rest. "It is clear that any scheme which takes place in Wrecclesham would be carefully controlled by the police, who would handle any prosecutions resulting from it. Therefore I'm 100 per cent behind it."