Camden Council hopes that one of the country’s first reports into a local authority parking service’s finances and objectives will counter ‘the urban myth’ that enforcement is a revenue-raiser.
Camden’s first Annual Parking and Enforcement report, published prior to a Government requirement for every council to produce one, shows that the number of penalty charge notices issued declined and that, overall, the surplus from the service remained the same.
While the figures show the surplus rose from £14.8M in 2005/06 to £19.3M in 2006/07, the council says this is due to an accounting error, which meant that £2.3M of income was not reported in 2005/06. Around £1M extra gained by improving recovery of penalty charge notices made up for the £1M lost after the Lib Dem-Tory administration ended clamping.
Cllr Mike Greene, Camden environment cabinet member, was ‘pleased’ at the three per cent drop in PCNs, and expects further improvements in compliance. Greene anticipated that PCNs for the relatively new moving traffic offences would decline in the same way that bus lane PCNs had – down by 37% last year.
He was relaxed about the income from parking enforcement declining further, as expected, following recent changes. The council agreed to relax its vehicles removal policy in July, so that around 60% fewer cars will be towed away – motorists blocking parking bays will only be taken away after 24 hours.
Greene argued: ‘We want parking enforcement to be fairer, using clamping on only the most iniquitous and towing away only the most inconveniencing. Financial considerations are a secondary concern.’
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