June 21, 2011 10.05 am This story is over 152 months old

Council plans on-street parking charges

Pay & Display: Lincolnshire County Council plans to introduce on-street parking charges in Lincoln city centre.

As Lincolnshire County Council is preparing to take over parking enforcement from Lincolnshire Police, the authority is looking at introducing on-street parking charges.

Streets in Lincoln city centre, as well as other towns across Lincolnshire, will have installed pay and display parking meters for up to 500 short stay bays county-wide.

A County Council draft proposal for on-street parking charges says “it is necessary to ensure that on street, short stay parking is effectively managed to prevent spaces being blocked by vehicles parked for longer than the allowed duration.

“Experience from other authorities suggests that turnover of spaces will be best achieved through the introduction of pay and display on street charging in appropriate locations.

“In most cases pay and display parking spaces will be operated in prime city or town centre locations and will be replacing existing free short-term limited waiting spaces.”

In Lincoln, such popular locations proposed for short-stay pay and display parking charges include Silver Street and Clasketgate.

The County Council proposal believes “this will benefit local businesses by providing the opportunity for a regular throughput of customers.”

The parking bays are expected to cost £250,000 to set up and hope to bring in £540,000 per year.

Taking over civil parking enforcement from police cost the County Council £1.2 million per year, leaving some £660,000 annual deficit on the service.

The parking enforcement duties also include managing residents parking schemes, employing parking wardens, parking fines (carried out by either a contractor or through agreement with City Council), and monitoring double yellow lines.

County councillors will consider the proposals at a meeting on 27 June. If approved, the changes would be introduced around June 2012.

Photo: Samantha Fisher for The Lincolnite | Related Reports: BBC Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire Echo