Parking fines plummet by £240k as tickets cut

Now more traffic wardens will patrol close to schools and restricted parking hours extended under new plans to make the service break even.

From next year, Stoke City Council will manage the service across the county for the authority with the aim of reducing costs. Currently each district council operates its parking on the county's behalf.

Responsibility for managing parking fines was handed to the county council by Staffordshire Police seven years ago after the offence was decriminalised.

But it has been running at an increasing loss across most of the region, with the county council underwriting the deficit. More motorists obeying the law has been given as the reason.

The number of penalty notices issued between April and September fell to 3,283 compared with the 3,926 handed out in the same six-month period last year. The tickets were split evenly between off-road and on-street parking.

The drop equates to more than 16 per cent fewer penalty notices being written and, of these, almost a fifth were cancelled after appeal.

Since its introduction, the total number of notices issued has dropped dramatically, from more than 63,000 in its first year to fewer than 46,000 in 2012-13.

A report to the authority notes that operational evidence suggests the system set up on the advice of consultants in 2007 'seems unlikely to be achieved in the forseeable future.'

And it says there is an increasing demand to tackle unsafe parking in more locations, further increase the hours that enforcement takes place and to provide more enforcement outside schools.

Income has been dropping despite the launch routine evening patrols and occasional Sunday patrols. Cannock Chase, Stafford, Lichfield and South Staffordshire are all running at a loss.

Cannock has informed the county council of its desire to opt out of the current arrangement and manage its own parking.

Council leader George Adamson said today: "We told the county at the time that their system was not financially viable and sadly we were proved right."

The new service will operate from April 1 on a break-even budget.

Councillor Mark Deaville, Cabinet Support Member for Highways and Transport at Staffordshire County Council said: "Civil parking enforcement is an important service that keeps our streets and roads safe and on the move and is essential for our local economies.

"In Staffordshire, people now park more considerately, are more satisfied with the way inconsiderate parking is tackled – with less parking tickets being issued than when the service was introduced.

"There is an increasing local demand for enforcement and additional parking restrictions and through this new partnership we will be able to deliver a more efficient and cost effective service."