4000 parking tickets despite lockdown
364 issued in first part of year were later cancelled
Almost 4000 parking tickets have been issued in the first half of the year by Stirling Council despite lockdown.
A Freedom of Information request by Dunblane and Bridge of Allan councillor Alastair Majury revealed that between December 17 2019 and June 23 this year 3913 parking tickets were issued.
Almost 10 per cent of these, however - 364 tickets - were cancelled.
The figures would normally have been presented to the council’s environment and housing committee, however meetings of the committee have been suspended due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation.
For the same period 226 new cases were reported to the Antisocial Behaviour team, with 162 cases remaining open.
Whilst there had been 292 reports of fly tipping received since the beginning of lock down on 23 March 2020, only 19 fixed penalty notices were issued in relation to fly tipping since December 17, and only a single fixed penalty notice issued for dog fouling.
Councillor Majury said: “The enforcement team have a very difficult task at the best of times, but Covid-19 of course makes that task even more difficult.
“Yet again, however, we can see that the priority would appear to be issuing parking tickets, rather than tackling more difficult issues such as fly tipping, dog fouling and antisocial behaviour.
“Hopefully as restrictions are eased the council will place a greater focus in these areas over issuing parking tickets.”
Environment and housing convener Councillor Jim Thomson (SNP), however, hit back saying the simple solution would be for people to adhere to the rules.
He said: “I can only repeat what I’ve said before. If people obeyed the law, there would be no need for our officers to issue notices at all.”
Labour’s environment spokesperson Councillor Danny Gibson added: “This latest nonsense from Councillor Majury needs to be challenged because he is effectively saying it’s ok for around 1000 motorists a month to flout the rules and park wherever they please.
“This is totally unacceptable as the rules of the road apply to everyone so if you follow the rules of the road in the Stirling Council area you won’t get a ticket – end of story.
“Our officers will always use enforcement against dog fouling wherever they can but any reasonable person can understand that it is more difficult to identify a dog fouling offence than it is a parking offence.”
A Stirling Council spokesperson said: “In the early part of the COVID-19 lockdown, council officers prioritised environmental enforcement, including fly tipping.
“It was particularly disappointing that people were carrying out these serious offences at a time of national emergency when there was significant pressure on council resources and as staff worked to support the most vulnerable in our communities.
“As restrictions have been eased, including on travel, we have increased our focus on parking enforcement particularly in the rural areas due to serious concerns over public safety and to protect and support local communities and businesses.
“The covert nature of flytipping makes it inherently difficult for council officers to catch the perpetrators but will work continuously to identify locations to prevent and deter issues such as flytipping and antisocial behaviour and to protect public safety.”
In February the Observer reported that parking tickets had raked in almost £1million for Stirling Council since being implemented less than three years ago.
Since the introduction in 2017 total income from penalty charge notices issued on street and in council car parks since the introduction was £926,558 £295,449 in 2017/18, £331,872 in 2018/19, and £299,237 up to that point for 2019/20.
From October 1 to December 16 last year, 3099 parking tickets were issued. A total of 240 were later cancelled - including for one which turned out to be a police vehicle.
The priority would appear to be issuing parking tickets, rather than tackling more difficult issues