Speed cameras in Wiltshire are to be switched off because of a funding shortfall.

All 19 fixed cameras and the eight mobile vans will be mothballed later this year.

The speed cameras are administered by the Wiltshire and Swindon Safety Camera Partnership, which employs 40 people – four police officers and the remainder civilian staff.

The partnership will close and, while efforts will be make to redeploy staff, Wiltshire Police’s assistant chief constable Patrick Geenty said some could be at risk of redundancy.

On Tuesday morning he broke the news to the staff in the partnership whose office is on the Hopton Industrial Estate in Devizes.

He said: “Everybody at the unit is completely devastated by the news. The staff were very distressed and quite angry. These are good people who have provided an excellent service to the public. We are providing as much support as we can to the staff involved and their families and will continue to do so.”

He said the Department of Transport had informed the partnership of a 27 per cent cut in funding to take effect immediately, amounting to £385,000, and no prospect of funding next year.

Mr Geenty, who is chairman of the partnership, said Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council, which fund the partnership, were not able to find the £1.34 million annual cost of running the partnership.

He said: “This has been a very difficult decision and one that the partners have agonised over because we are committed to continuing to improve road safety.”

The exact date for the closure of the partnership has not been finalised but is likely to be towards the end of October.

Mr Geenty said motorists who have been caught speeding and who were waiting to be dealt with would be processed in the normal way.

He said after the closure of the unit speed enforcement would be carried out by traffic police officers whose cars record the speed of vehicles but also by volunteers in Community Speed Watch groups who use hand held speed guns to record speeds and pass on the registration numbers to police officers.

Asked if there would be a substantial reduction in speed enforcement Mr Geenty said: “There will be a reduction in speed enforcement but we will target those areas where we feel will most benefit.”

Mr Geenty said between January 2006 and December 2009 there had been a 33 per cent reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured on the county’s roads.

The partnership was set up in 2002 and the money raised from speed fines went directly back to the partnership but the previous Government changed the rules a few years ago so all the money went to central Government and the partnership receives grants to fund road safety work.

Last year Swindon Borough Council switched off its fixed speed cameras as it did not consider the money spent on them was worthwhile. It says that since then there has been no increase in speed related accidents.