Wardens doing their job

The role of our parking attendants is to manage the arrangements we have put in place for parking in our town centres and villages.

They implement the decisions taken by our councils and they should be able to do so without fear or favour.

They certainly should not be photographed and labelled as ‘ meanies’ for their friends, family and all to see.

Our parking attendants do not make up the rules and if people disagree with local parking policies, they should take this up with either our own council at East Ayrshire or South Ayrshire Council.

In the early weeks of lockdown, many of our parking attendants volunteered to undertake alternative duties, including meal deliveries to our more vulnerable residents and traffic management at the waste recycling centres in South Ayrshire.

I am incredibly grateful to our Parking Attendants for the work they do and for the way in which they have stepped forward to support their community and to help keep others safe, during lockdown.

As we have started to emerge from lockdown, councils and other organisations across the country are rightly concerned for our town centres.

With shops and businesses reopening, we want to make sure that there is a good turnover of vehicles in our town centres so that these businesses are not negatively impacted by people taking up valuable parking spaces all day.

Our policies are designed to do just that and as highlighted, the role of our Parking Attendants is to enforce those policies.

Local newspapers have a vital role to play in holding public services to account and you do so on behalf of our local communities and your readership. However, I do think that on this occasion, you went too far. Our parking attendants were simply doing their job and doing it well.

Accordingly, I would ask that you consider publishing my letter ... there is always another side to the story. Fiona Lees, Chief Executive of East Ayrshire Council