Crackdown on parking by council

In July, parking is set to become decriminalised, which means that the council will take over the responsibility for controlling illegal parking from the police and have its own traffic wardens patrolling the borough.

And the Ribble Valley authority has also put forward a bid to house a new centre in the area, which would deal with parking penalty notices from across Lancashire, creating more new jobs.

The council's engineering manager, Graham Jagger, explained why the council was taking the step. He said: "Parking restrictions are not being enforced, due to lack of police resources. This has resulted in illegally-parked vehicles causing an obstruction, or vehicles occupying limited waiting areas for longer than permitted."

Members of Ribble Valley Council's planning and development committee have now given the go-ahead for the introduction of £60 penalties for on and off-street parking offences, in line with other Lancashire authorities.

Under the new scheme, enforcement charges in the council's 15 pay and display car parks will also be revised in line with on-street penalties. The current charge of £25 discounted to £5 if paid on the day will be increased to £60 reduced to £30 if paid within 14 days.

Inspector Bob Ford of Clitheroe police said officers would continue to enforce parking laws even though the force would soon no longer be controlling parking restrictions: "We don't need highly-trained police officers to be dealing with parking offences.

"But we will still have the power and the responsibility in certain cases to enforce parking regulations in the area. We won't be the primary body but it won't stop us, where there is a specific problem we will still be able to deal with it."

In other parts of Lancashire the county council has hired its own traffic wardens to enforce parking restrictions.

But Mr Jagger said Ribble Valley Council was making the right decision by choosing to control parking.