Council 'missing out on thousands' in parking fines

Councillor Stephen Martin said the council could be making up to £1,400 a day

A council is missing out on thousands of pounds from potential parking fines, a councillor has claimed.

Stephen Martin said he regularly witnessed up to 20 cars a day illegally ignoring yellow markings, and called on Redcar and Cleveland Council to hire more traffic wardens.

The Conservative, who represents the Eston ward, told a meeting he was “shocked” the authority only employed 12 enforcement officers, and further recruitment would "more than pay for itself in the revenue raised".

Labour's Adam Brook, the cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said the approach of prioritising income over education could generate "a lot of negative publicity".

Mr Martin said councillors and residents were “sick and tired” of illegal and dangerous parking, and he was shocked to hear the small enforcement team also had to deal with tackling fly-tipping, littering, dog fouling and certain types of anti-social behaviour.

'Targets'

“This is the only service which theoretically pays for itself through revenue raised by issuing fines," he said.

“No matter which ward I am in throughout the day, I will see 10 to 20 cars daily parked on yellow lines.

“This is potentially £700 to £1,400 a day in lost revenue – a fine for parking on double yellow lines is £70."

Mr Brook said any income generated from the team’s activities only contributed towards about a third of its operation costs, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

He added some other local authorities had income generation as a “prime concern”, with targets given to officers in respect of fines to be issued.

“This approach can generate a lot of negative publicity when it becomes apparent that the key objective is to generate income, rather than educate and change behaviours,” he added.

He said the council was looking at external funding opportunities to bolster resources and was working with partners to address areas of concern.