Parking enforcement is set to return to the streets of Angus in a bid to stop people parking illegally.
Community wardens will be handed new powers to issue parking tickets to people parked on yellow lines under the plans.
Despite speculation to the contrary, there are no plans to impose parking charges.
A member officer group set up six months ago has come up with the new scheme, which would see the council employ two additional full-timeequivalent community wardens to accommodate the extra task.
People would be fined £60 if caught on double yellows, reduced to £30 if the charge is paid promptly, but this is not a money grabbing scheme by the council.
In fact, it is projected that taking on enforcement will cost the council between £53,000 and £56,000 every year. Set up costs are estimated at just under £200,000.
However, the council’s working group feels this is a price worth paying to end the perceived ‘free for all’ on Angus streets since Police Scotland withdrew from enforcing parking offences.
A council survey completed by more than 200 businesses and community council members found that 84% of respondents thought inappropriate parking had got worse since wardens were removed.
Almost three-quarters supported the council providing street parking control.
One retailer estimated their business had suffered a 12% downturn due to parking issues.
The working group said usingcommunity wardens to enforce parking had a number of advantages as using its pool of workers gave flexibility invarying the timing and approach of enforcement.
If the proposal gets the go ahead at Tuesday’s meeting of the policy and resources committee, then a business case will be submitted to Scottish ministers for their approval.
This submission will allow Angus Council the flexibility to impose parking charges in the future.
The report to councillors states: “Whilst the member officers group members were clear that parking charges were not consideredappropriate, noting the submission to ministers is a one-off process thatcannot thereafter be amended, the MOG agreed that the business casesubmission should allow for any potential future introduction of charging.
“The committee is asked to agree this potential option noting that there are no proposals to introduce on-street or off-street parking charges at this time and any future proposals would be thesubject of committee reports asappropriate.”
Set-up costs are estimated at £198,000 which will include reviewing traffic orders to ensure road markings match the orders. The charges are expected to bring in around £50,000 a year, but annual costs of enforcement will run at just over £100,000.A real problemAn incredible 500 parking offences were identified in Angus over a two-hour period.
As an exercise to understand the scale of the current problem in the county, wardens in seven towns were asked to note how many single and double yellow line offences they could find.
The wardens went round the town centres of Arbroath, Brechin, Carnoustie, Forfar, Kirriemuir, Monifieth and Montrose.
In two hours they identified 374 double yellow offences and 137 single yellow line offences.
Wardens in Arbroath found more than 123 double yellow offences in the town alone.’People have got lazy’An Angus pensioner has blasted “lazy” and “atrocious” parking and backed the return of wardens in the county, writes Graeme Strachan.
Beatrice Gerrard, 74, from Arbroath’s Andy Stewart Court, walks with the aid of a zimmer and said she struggles to get around due to bad parking.
She said it can be difficult for people with mobility problems to get past when cars are parked up on pavements or across dropped kerbs.
Mrs Gerrard believes an end to free parking, which the council has stopped short of announcing, and the return of wardens, which is on the table, would help bring the situation under control.
Angus Council is to discuss theproposals at a meeting next week after a consultation revealed residents are fed up with a perceived high street “free-for-all”.
Police monitor parking in Angus but staffing pressures mean officers are now less able to spend time enforcing double-yellow infractions and over-timeparking bays, leading to calls for a charging structure.
Mrs Gerrard said: “I’ve got a zimmer and it’s very difficult for me to get around because so many cars are parked on the pavement.
“I need to use the dropped kerbs to get my zimmer across the road but if a car is parked over it I will need help to get down the step.
“It would definitely help things if there were parking charges and trafficwardens in Arbroath because I think the town needs it.
“I gave up driving at the age of 70 but the parking has got much worse since then people have got lazy.
“They want to stop directly outside the place they are going to without thinking of the impact on the elderly or people with prams.
“The parking is often atrocious but nobody is enforcing it so they are able to get away with it.”
In February last year Police Scotland discontinued the traffic warden service in Angus but continued to deal withdangerous and obstructive parking.
Since then there have been reports to the council of various parking issues and time-limited parking being abused.
Problem hotspots including Montrose High Street have been tackled by police traffic officers in recent weeks.
Enforcement could take the form of an equivalent traffic warden service to enforce on-street parking, funded by fine income and council budgets, or with the introduction of parking charges to cover the scheme’s costs.