Campaigner welcomes council's new parking powers

Liz Owen is a campaigner who wants to make St Neots more accessible for people who have disabilities

A disability campaigner has welcomed a council's new powers to enforce parking rules instead of relying on the police.

Huntingdonshire will become a civil enforcement area from 28 July so that the district council can tackle illegal parking itself.

It means the local authority can issue penalty charge notices for misdemeanours including parking on double yellow lines.

Liz Owen, from St Neots in Cambridgeshire, said some people with disabilities had been put off from visiting the town because designated parking bays were often used by people who did not have a blue badge.

Ms Owen said the disabled bays at the St Neots Market Square were not always "very well respected"

In 2021 the council agreed to pursue civil parking enforcement in Huntingdonshire and an application was made to the Department of Transport in January.

The changes mean some on-street parking offences will be decriminalised, so Huntingdonshire District Council officers can enforce them, instead of the police.

Ms Owen, who runs advocacy group Access in St Neots, said some people would "abandon" their cars in disabled bays.

The police will retain powers to enforce dangerous or obstructive parking, parking on pedestrian crossings and zig-zag lines, and traffic offences such as speeding.

Huntingdonshire District Council's executive member for parks and countryside, waste and street scene, Julie Kerr, said there had been training and recruitment for the team of civil enforcement officers in preparation for the changes.

The independent politician said parking officers had only been able to operate in council-owner car parks.

"Our officers now have the authority to enforce a broader range of parking restrictions on public roads," she said.

Patrols would focus on "known areas of concern" to begin with, added Kerr.

Robin Wyatt, the Liberal Democrat vice-chairwoman of the highways and transport committee at Cambridgeshire County Council, said the committee supported the action in Huntingdonshire.