New date set for Chester parking tickets switch

Sep 12 2008 by David Norbury, Chester Chronicle

DECRIMINALISED parking is set to hit Chester's streets on Wednesday, November 12.

The date is due to be revealed to a Town Hall meeting of city highway chiefs on Thursday (September 18).

Area highways manager Colin Stredder says it had been hoped the new arrangements, now known as civil parking enforcement, would be introduced on Wednesday, October 15.

But the date has been changed at the request of the Department for Transport.

The city council is recruiting additional staff, paid up to £19,400 a year, to enforce the measure but parking services manager David Bennett says he does not want the district to get a reputation for over-zealous ticketing.

A publicity campaign is being drawn up including leaflets, advertising in car parks and other public places and information on the council's website.

City centre councillor Ed Jonas (Con, City & St Anne's) told a meeting of the full city council that in recent years he had received complaints from a number of residents about the lack of enforcement of parking regulations which occupiers believed was detrimental to road safety.

He sought an assurance that with the introduction of the new regulations, “enforcement will be guided by road safety concerns and will not instead be driven by revenue targets for fines”.

He was told by executive member for customer services Cllr Stephen Mosley (Con, Handbridge & St Mary's) that the enforcement of parking restrictions will be strictly regulated “with clear guidelines for the evidence required and the process by which a fine is administered”.

Cllr Mosley argued the parking restrictions themselves. and not the enforcement measures. were designed to promote road safety.

“Illegal parking can reduce road and junction capacity and cause road safety concerns,” said Cllr Mosley.

He said that enforcement by the police had declined in recent years as officers had been redirected to combat other crime.

The introduction of civil parking enforcement will see improvements in communicating with drivers and will be more consistent, according to Cllr Mosley.

Any excess income over running costs will be ring-fenced for transport projects.

He revealed that although estimates of the potential income from fines have been made for the purposes of costing the introduction of the new arrangements covering on street parking in the city “individual staff income targets have not and will not be set”.