Measures to Tackle Car Cruising - Future Steps

Overview

As you may be aware the City of Wolverhampton Council, on behalf of itself and its neighbouring Black Country Borough Councils (Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall) obtained an injunction, reinforced with a power of arrest, on 1 December 2014 to restrain the activity of “car cruising” which was plaguing the Black Country area (“the Injunction”). The Injunction was granted for three years and was renewed by the High Court in February 2018 and now expires February 2021. Owing to the success of the Injunction two other neighbouring authorities (namely, Birmingham City Council and Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council) obtained similar injunctions with the result that six of the seven constituent local authority areas of the West Midlands Combined Authority are protected currently protected by injunctions to restrain car cruising.

The City of Wolverhampton Council recognises that the problem of car cruising is not confined to the Black Country or the West Midlands. Moreover, there is anecdotal evidence that “Car Cruisers” that would have sought to participate or organise car cruises within the West Midlands are going further afield. Whilst every local authority in England and Wales can apply to court, or the City of Wolverhampton Council can enter into agreements with other authorities to conduct litigation on behalf of others to apply to court, for a car cruising injunction in respect of their local authority areas, as a blanket national injunction is not feasible the problem of displacing car cruising persists.

Furthermore, the City of Wolverhampton Council also acknowledges that the High Court is unlikely to continue to renew the Injunction every three years in perpetuity. The City of Wolverhampton Council considers that, at some point in the future, the High Court will conclude either the Injunction has proven successful and is no longer required, or, that with the best will in the world, it is impossible to eradicate car cruising in its entirety such that is not proportionate to maintain the Injunction.

Why your views matter

At the renewal hearing in March 2018, in open Court the City of Wolverhampton Council acknowledged the limitations of the longevity of the Injunction. It told the Court it would work with its partners and other necessary stakeholders to seek a permanent nationwide solution to car cruising.

With its commitment to the Court firmly in its mind, the City of Wolverhampton Council wishes to conduct a consultation exercise to evaluate the scope of the problem of car cruising elsewhere. The outcome of this consultation will form the basis of a feasibility study to evaluate whether there is an appetite to tackle the problem outside of the West Midlands and how the problem could be tackled.

PLEASE NOTE: THE CLOSING DATE FOR RESPONDING TO THE SURVEY IS TUESDAY 4 AUGUST 2020.

To see a copy of the Injunction and to discover more information about the Injunction, please visit: https://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/parking-and-roads/car-cruising-injunction.

Should you have any queries relating to the survey or the Injunction generally please e-mail: litigation@wolverhampton.gov.uk

Alternatively, you are free to comment raise queries on the Council’s official Facebook and Twitter pages relating to tackling car cruising.

https://www.facebook.com/WolverhamptonToday

https://twitter.com/wolvescouncil

The City of Wolverhampton Council thanks you for your time and attention in this matter.