Common sense will drive our plans for parking (Islington Liberal Democrats)

Islington Liberal Democrats <Islington_ld@cix.co.uk>

Common sense will drive our plans for parking

July 25, 2007 12:00 AM
By COUNCILLOR LUCY WATT

Islington Council's executive member with responsibility for parking

PARKING is one of those council services that, in some way, almost everyone experiences. And we all know that is a subject that evokes heated responses from even the most level headed of us, not just here but all over the country.

I know how frustrating it can be to receive a parking ticket that you don't feel is fair. This is why, when I became the council's executive member with responsibility for parking in May 2006, I made it a top priority to deliver a parking enforcement service driven by common sense.

There have been Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs) in Islington since (1961). CPZs have generally been popular, because they make given residents priority when rationing the kerb space that more and more people want to use. But I know that many people have felt that the enforcement of the CPZ and other parking restrictions in the borough has, at times, been too strict.

So, what have I done to change things?

I started by telling parking attendants to use common sense more when issuing tickets. For example, if someone is there returning to their illegally parked vehicle, don't ticket them. We've cut fines for lesser parking offences - such as overstaying in a Pay and Display bay. We've doubled the number of all day visitors vouchers, and given free visitors vouchers to use over the Christmas holiday period.

I really wanted our parking service to look at things from the residents' perspective - after all, the service is being delivered for the benefit of residents. So, we have appointed a new Residents' Parking Advocate, to spot where policy or practices are not common sense, and to recommend changes we can make.

We have recently carried out a radical overhaul of our parking enforcement contract. This is the contract that tells our contractor, NCP, how we want them to enforce parking in the borough. As part of this process, we appointed a representative Citizens Panel of local residents and businesspeople, to advise us. This panel recommended that we have a contract that allows us to cut the number of Parking Attendants on the street - our new contract makes provision for this. They also recommended that we put in a clause where NCP will have to award motorists £25 "time and trouble" money if they incorrectly issue tickets. I think this is a great idea, and it is in the new contract.

But what excites me the most about this new contract is that we are asking for certain quality standards to be achieved, not for a set number of tickets to be issued. And NCP risks losing a lot of money if they issue tickets incorrectly or receive lots of complaints.

I know that the tide is turning, because in the last few months I have been receiving letters praising the behaviour of parking attendants, rather than complaining about them. I hope this continues and I know that we will keep listening to and acting on feedback from residents and local businesses so we can bring even more common sense to our parking enforcement service.

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