Berwick News
Free Car-Parking in Northumberland
23 January 2014
Berwick's free parking proposals set to be agreed at County committee on 28 January. During the Autumn, local councils with NCC-run car parks in their area conducted reviews and consultations to produce community car-parking plans and proposals. With the exception of a small number of villages that are under significant pressure, most communities have come up with a series of proposals involving free-of-charge, but time-limited car parking. The County Council's proposed response can now be seen here.
NCC's response in almost all instances is to agree the communities' proposals; in a few instances, further discussion will be needed. Overall, the annual revenue ‘cost' in foregone income to the Council is estimated at £2.3million. The Council's report also confirms that there should be no reduction in the resources currently spent on enforcement, bearing in mind that some savings have already been achieved by not filling a range of vacant posts. Formal decisions by the Policy Board are expected on 11 February, and NCC will go through the statutory procedures to put the relevant Traffic Regulation Orders in place.
Please note that NCC is proposing to introduce a tighter monitoring regime and enforcement regime. The ‘Observation Period' before the traffic warden will ‘ticket' an offending vehicle is to be reduced from 5 minutes to 2 minutes, or instantaneously, according to the circumstances. See the report here.