TOWN hall bosses will be coining it in once they take over the job of dishing out parking tickets from Traffic wardens.

They want to take over the running of the service which could turn into a goldmine in future years.

The borough-wide bonanza is expected to net the local authority an extra £150,000 a year, on top of the annual £300,000 profit it currently makes from parking charges.

Just one full year's takings would cover the cost of setting up the scheme including staff costs, publicity and signs.

The Road Traffic Act allows councils to take over enforcement of parking on the highway. Councils can therefore keep the cash they raise from penalty notices which currently go to the Government. Manchester City Council took up these powers last year and others, such as Bolton, Trafford and Salford, are set to follow.

It comes against the background of a big decline in the number of traffic wardens and penalty notices issued in Greater Manchester in the last few years.

An outside contractor, employing nine attendants, currently enforces on-street pay and display parking and public car parks in Bury town centre. If the local authority took on the new powers, it would need to employ a further 22 attendants.

Another six staff would be needed to process the penalty notices, which could rise from the current 16,000 to more than 70,000. There would have to be an adjudication service to deal with unpaid notices.

Council officers say the money would be ploughed back into transport improvements. It might also help set up residents' parking schemes throughout the borough, enforce disabled spaces on district car parks, and help traffic flow and management generally to tie in with initiatives such as quality bus routes.

Councillors have approved the scheme in principle, and have asked consultants to look at the implications.

If ultimately sanctioned, the scheme should start in January 2003.