Maidenhead & Windsor

The Windsor and Maidenhead Royal Borough’s plan to make parking safer and fairer for all road users looks set to start on Monday January 14 2008.

From then Windsor and Maidenhead council will take over responsibility for parking enforcement from the police and a 16-strong team of trained parking officers will be out and about on local streets, making sure that drivers park sensibly, safely and lawfully.

A report to next week’s planning and environment overview and scrutiny panel (Tuesday July 3) sets out recommendations from lead cabinet member Windsor and Maidenhead Cllr Colin Rayner for taking forward the complex procedures involved. The meeting will give panel members the opportunity to discuss the proposals before cabinet takes a final decision on Thursday July 26.

Given Windsor and Maidenhead cabinet approval, there will be a final submission to the Department for Transport to turn the borough into a Special Parking Area with council responsibility for all parking enforcement – signalling a red light for drivers who flout the law and park on double yellow lines, in residents’ parking bays and in restricted waiting areas.

To ensure consistent and fair enforcement throughout the borough, the council will need to expand its existing parking team from six to 16 and take on five additional administrative staff. However, the aim is for enforcement to be self-funding within a short time.

Cllr Rayner, lead member for Windsor and Maidenhead highways, transport and environment, said: “We are totally committed to ensuring safer, fairer parking for all through the council’s enforcement of parking regulations. Good progress is being made through the maze of red tape and complex preparation that needs to be done before we take over responsibility from the police and we aim to be up and running by January 14 next year.

“Local people will notice a difference from day one. The high profile team will be on the streets and in town centres, where the thoughtless, selfish parking of some road users is currently causing serious issues for pedestrians and businesses and demonstrating utter contempt for the law.”

Under the proposed slogan Safer, Fairer Parking for All, the new scheme will bring a number of significant benefits, including:

* co-ordination of all on and off-street parking
* prevention of and action on illegal parking
* better management of available parking spaces
* adaptability to meet the needs of individual areas
* consistent enforcement by the borough team
* local accountability
* better integration and operation of residents’ parking schemes
* improved environment as a result of better traffic management
* police resources freed up to deal with the prevention and detection of crime.

The new Windsor and Maidenhead parking officers will also have a positive impact on the appearance of local streets by helping with enforcement action against litter louts and by reporting graffiti, potholes and other issues to the relevant council departments.

When the overview and scrutiny panel has discussed the report next week it will, with any panel comments, go to cabinet on July 26. Recruitment for the additional team members will aim to have them in place by November so that they will be fully trained for the scheme to ‘go live’ in January 2008.

A major publicity campaign will start in the autumn to ensure that residents, businesses and all road users are aware of the enforcement changes ahead.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead