21/12/12….Abuse of parking raised by council

THAME Town Council is to join neighbouring towns in lobbying the district council to sort out parking enforcement, claiming that since Thame lost its Traffic Warden, parking issues are having an adverse effect on the economic well-being of the town. The market traders have recently complained to the council about particular problems on Tuesdays.

After new laws in 2008 when on-street parking was ?decriminilised? and the eventual forced retirement of Thame?s Traffic Warden, Peggy Long, on-street parking on double yellow lines throughout Thame has been abused. Some local authorities like Oxford City, put parking enforcement in the hands of Private companies (Civil Parking Enforcement or CPE) but South Oxfordshire District Council did not ?take up the baton? in Thame, Didcot, nor Henley after decrimilisation and it therefore became the responsibility of the police.

Speaking at a town council meeting on Tuesday (18/12), Cllr Jeannette Matelot, who lives above a shop in the town centre, said: ?I would only support CPE if we look at residents? parking for those who live in the town centre. When is something going to be done? We want people to live in town centres to keep them vibrant, but we are not looked after.?

Peggy Long used to apparently use her discretion about ticketing local residents who had nowhere to park in the town centre, but it is feared that a private company would act like ?mini martinets? as Cllr Helena Fickling expressed it, and penalise people if they were only a minute or two over the time.

Cllr Mike Welply said: ?I am disappointed. The police assured us that PCSOs would enforce on-street parking.?

Cllr Mike Dyer wanted to explore the feasibility of the town council working with the district council and take responsibility for on-road parking as well as the car parks which it, the town council, currently oversees.

Councillors agreed that a letter would be sent to SODC explaining the concerns about parking issues in the town, and pushing for the introduction of Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) in Thame.

Thame’s Inspector Mark Harling told ThameNews.Net: “We are aware of the concerns over parking in Thame.
Thame is similar to other towns in respect that parking can be an issue at times.

“The PCSOs with the local neighbourhood team have a wide range of duties including preventing crime, searching for missing people and dealing with vulnerable individuals.

“We have the parking situation in the PCSOs’ patrol plans but are happy to receive feedback as and when specific problems occur.

“We are grateful for this information and will be doing what we can to address the problem.”