A major roundabout that is a “pinch point” between busy roads should have cameras installed on it to catch drivers skipping red lights and blocking up the carriageway, council leader Martin Tett has said.

His comments, about Handy Cross roundabout, come as Buckinghamshire Council drew up a list of “problem” roads that could benefit from cameras to catch drivers flouting the rules of the road.

The council is set to apply to the Department for Transport to become one of the first outside London to take on enforcement of moving traffic offences from the police after launching trial ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras on certain roads to monitor just how many drivers are breaking the rules.

There are 14 areas on the list, including Castle Street/Church Street, near Primark in High Wycombe, where drivers breaking the ‘buses only’ rules regularly come face to face with the public transport vehicles, and Corporation Street, which is only for buses and taxis.

A camera trial found that on average, 381 drivers abused the Castle Street restrictions, and an average of 480 per day were caught on camera flouting the Corporation Street rules.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting earlier this week, Cllr Tett said Handy Cross is such a busy roundabout, linking major roads like the M40 and the A404, where drivers regularly flout the rules, that it should have made the cut for the list of sites to get cameras.

The leader said: “Given that we had to apply for specific locations rather than being giving general powers, why have we not done this for places like Handy Cross for example?

“So often you see people jumping the lights, blocking up the carriageway and the whole system just doesn’t move.

“It is such a pinch point between the M40, the 404 to Marlow, the roads down to Wycombe town. How did we select the roads we have chosen, for example Gore Hill, but not Handy Cross?”

Transport chief Cllr Steve Broadbent explained why the roads they put forward had been chosen.

He said: “There’s a number of sites across the county that clearly would be useful to have cameras. We have to demonstrate a geographical spread across the county and a variety of offences like access through bus lanes or environmental weight limits.

“Notwithstanding that, Handy Cross has yellow hatching and box junctions elements, but in order to enforce it, there needs to be a traffic regulation order (TRO) in place at the particular site.

“Handy Cross is a little more complicated because the roundabout part is covered by National Highways, so we would need to get their agreement to apply the correct TRO to then enforce. In other words, we can’t do it immediately.

“I was very keen to make sure we were in the first tranche of applications, with the cut-off date in 12 days’ time. If we don’t do it now, we can’t even apply until October.

“My hope here is that if we secure the powers now, we can start enforcing towards the end of the year. Handy Cross does have that extra step because of National Highways.

“These are mobile cameras so there will be a rolling programme of moving them around.”