Parking penalties ‘not about money’ insists new enforcer

From May 30, responsibility for enforcing parking restrictions on the public highways throughout North Yorkshire will pass to North Yorkshire County Council, with county-wide penalty charges also introduced.

An agreement has been reached between all local authorities in the county, and the enforcement of the public highway and local authority managed off-street car parks will be carried out by Scarborough Borough Council, in Ryedale, Hambleton, Richmondshire and Scarborough and Harrogate Borough Council, in Craven, Selby and Harrogate.

County Councillor Gareth Dadd, executive member for Highways said: “Civil parking enforcement is most emphatically not about making a profit.

“The primary objective is to dissuade motorists from contravening parking restrictions. In fact, there is unlikely to be any surplus after administration costs are covered.”

The changes will also see penalty charges standardised across North Yorkshire, bringing them into line with the charges already imposed in Harrogate and Scarborough.

There will be two different levels of penalty. Parking where waiting, stopping or loading are prohibited will constitute a higher penalty with a £70 fine.

Failure to comply with the requirements in designated parking areas will lead to a charge of £50 but both penalties will be halved if paid within 14 days.

At the moment, parking enforcement on the public highway is carried out on the county’s behalf by the borough councils of Scarborough and Harrogate, within their boundaries, and by the police elsewhere. But the authority says the new arrangement gives the council the ability to manage the enforcement of parking and waiting restrictions across North Yorkshire.

Coun Dadd added: “Poor, dangerous and obstructive parking can pose a danger to pedestrians, reduce visibility for other motorists and disrupt traffic flow.

“Among other things, this arrangement will allow us to crack down on obstructive parking which causes congestion.”