Lincolnshire Parking Enforcement Date is announced

Lincolnshire County Council has announced on its website that its contractor will commence on-street parking enforcement on Monday 3rd December...

Excellent coverage on BBC Radio Lincolnshire this morning

There was excellent coverage of our campaign on BBC Radio Lincolnshire this morning. Listen to it here on iPlayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00x9xsr/The_Breakfast_Show_with_Rod_Whiting_05_09_2012/

There are two interviews and the coverage begins 2:38:10 into the programme.

An update from Cllr William Webb, Chair of Lincolnshire CC Highways Committee

I note the comments made by Cllr Mrs Neal but I am unsure if she is fully aware of the changes we will be making to our parking policy. We received comments from most of the seven district councils suggesting that the criteria for introducing residents parking schemes were too rigid – therefore, we amended this section of the policy to allow more flexibility. The changes were accepted by the Highways Transport and Technology Scrutiny Committee at their meeting on 12 December, and I intend to formally approve the policy, with amendments, early in January. 

Response from South Kesteven District Council...

Mrs Neal, the leader of SKDC has just sent the following response.....

Latest report in the Peterborough Evening Telegraph....

On Wednesday 7th December the Peterborough Evening Telegraph reported  that the LCC's consultation on a new draft parking policy has generated 133 responses – 66 from Stamford residents requesting new residents parking schemes.

LCC Policy Update

Questions and Answers from a recent exchange of correspondence with Cllr William Webb, Chair of LCC’s Highways Committee

1. In a letter to a neighbour you stated "...a review of the current policy on residents' parking schemes will be carried out" (i.e. separately from consideration of the current draft Parking Policy which merely refers to an extant Residents' Parking Policy). Am I correct to infer from your reply to me that such a review will not now take place?

Reply: Officers reviewed all of our existing policies before including them in the 'Parking Policy' that we consulted on. This includes our proposals for residents parking schemes which is similar existing policy but modified to take account of CPE. We will of course review all of the comments we have received, as a result of the recent consultation, before deciding on our final policy.

2. Am I correct to infer [from your reply to me] that the LCC is not prepared to endeavour to facilitate Residents' Parking Schemes being put in place before CPE comes into force?

Reply: As mentioned above our current and proposed policy on residents parking schemes is that these would be promoted by District Councils. At the present time there are no proposals by district councils to promote new residents parking schemes in the county so it is unlikely any new schemes will be introduced before or at the same time as Civil Parking Enforcement is introduced. As you may be aware the City of Lincoln Council have implemented a number of resident parking schemes  and we have facilitated these by carrying out the necessary legal processes

3. I notice that you use the phrase "body other than LCC", whereas the Draft Parking Policy document specifically says "District Councils". Is this significant? Are you opening the door for either our Town Council or a community group to take responsibility for Resident's Parking Schemes? 

Reply: I am sorry if I misled you on this; our current policy is that second tier councils would promote schemes.  This of course includes Boston Borough Council and City of Lincoln Council.

4. Whilst I understand that there is no legal imperative for bodies other than the LCC to be involved in the design and control of Residents' Parking Schemes, am I to assume that the LCC is not willing to consider changing its stance on this - and will continue to insist upon such bodies being involved?

Reply: As I explained in 1) above we are suggesting that our current policy on residents parking schemes is retained, however we will only determine our final policy once we have reviewed all of the comments we have received during this consultation.

The current situation in summary...

Enforcement of on-street parking regulations is planned to transfer from the Lincolnshire Police to the Lincolnshire County Council next year.

Lincolnshire County Council is adamant that it will not run any Residents' Parking Schemes - it will only agree to allow schemes to be run by District Councils...

...My own District Council, the SKDC, is not willing to run any Residents' Parking Schemes.

Many residents would like a residents' scheme to operate in their neighbourhood, but nobody seems to be listening.

What is happening elsewhere in Lincolnshire? Please add to the blog to let us know.

I hope this blog will help to take this issue forward across the County