More work needed on parking wardens plan across Telford

Telford & Wrekin Council has been discussing taking on civil parking enforcement powers from the police.

That would allow the local authority to employ wardens and be in control of penalising poor parking in the borough.

But a meeting of its Finance & Enterprise Scrutiny Committee said more information was needed before it could go ahead with the scheme.

It comes as it emerged the cost of taking on the traffic wardens could stretch to more than £100,000 per year.

Conservative councillors on the council have called for it to assume civil parking enforcement powers from West Mercia Police.

At the moment it is one of only 21 councils in the country that does not yet have the powers.

The job of issuing tickets to motorists in Telford is currently in the hands of police or community officers.

But the council could apply for a civil parking enforcement order.

That would enable it to target problem areas, potentially increasing the number of tickets issued to motorists each year – and allowing the council to keep any fines that are issued.

At a meeting of the committee at Addenbrooke House, members discussed the plans, and were to make a recommendation on whether to go ahead with the plans or do more work.

They were given a presentation based on a model of four or five parking wardens working in the borough, which would cost the council £164,000 in the first year, £131,000 in the second year and £134,000 in the third year, but that does not take into account the cost of any appeals made by members of the public against tickets.

Councillor Peter Scott, who attended the meeting, said the committee decided a lot more work needs to be done before the plans can go ahead.

He said: "It is clear that although there are parking issues all over the borough of Telford & Wrekin, a lot more research needs to be done before a real business case can be put forward.

"We need to get it right because if we take it on and then decide it's not for us, we cannot send it back and ask the police to resume enforcement and we would be in a position of having no enforcement at all."

He said all options will be explored, including whether Telford & Wrekin Council will take on the responsibility itself, or devolve the service down to town and parish councils for them to operate.

Councillor Scott, who also sits on Newport Town Council says, in the meantime, it is again looking to make a deal to share a PCSO with parking powers with Wellington Town Council, in a bid to continue tackling the town's own parking problems.