NEWS
LOCAL AUTHORITY NEWS
ANNE IS RINGGO-ING THE EXTRA MILE
Anne Sneldon (right) with RingGo colleagues
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FREE PARKING IS FUEL FOR THE ‘ENGINE ROOM’
A raft of new parking measures has been unveiled in Middlesbrough to boost visitors to the town centre.
The initiative was launched by Mayor
Ray Mallon, and follow consultations with business leaders, employers and traders across the town. It aims to ensure that Middlesbrough remains an attractive place to work and shop.
The new offer includes free parking for the first two hours in all council-operated town centre car parks and monthly permits for just £20 in other facilities. Mallon said: ‘The town centre is Middlesbrough’s engine room, and bearing in mind that the country as a whole is experiencing an economic downturn, it is vital that the council of this town does everything possible to attract visitors to the town centre. ‘I have spoken to many people from
RingGo’s Anne Snelson will be running the John Austin half marathon in the
New Forest on 3 March, on behalf of the BPA president’s charity, Parasol. Anne said: ‘This isn’t something I’ve ever done before, nor am likely to do again. It’s
quite simply a goal I’ve set myself for 2013, to run a 13 mile race. I was hoping it might be something I could do for a worthwhile cause, so I am running on behalf of Parasol, a charity which supports injured service personnel and their families.’
the Tees area with regard to what attracts them to shopping areas, and all have stated that it is the retail offer as well as the price of parking cars. ‘In Middlesbrough we have an exceptional shopping offer, but in my opinion the price of parking has become too high, and many potential shoppers and visitors have turned their backs on Middlesbrough and gone elsewhere.’
TAKE NOTICE OF PARKING BAY SUSPENSIONS
The Traffic Signs Review has come at a timely moment as The Daily Mail is leading the charge in the mainstream media to highlight local authorities that have incorrect signage in place. The Traffic Signs Review, outlined in depth on p26, aims to provide clearer and more consistent road signage for motorists; this will include parking signs. However, the costs and time involved in changing the UK’s road signs means there will still be inconsistencies of the kind highlighted in the article in The Daily Mail.
The paper has claimed that ‘hundreds of thousands of parking fines may have
10 MARCH 2013
been wrongly issued’ (The Daily Mail, 12 February), after local authorities have ignored Department for Transport (DfT) regulations on signage. The paper says that an investigation has found thousands of ‘suspended parking bay’ notices that have not been cleared with the DfT. The problem has arisen because there is not as yet a template for a ‘suspended parking bay’ sign, so each local authority must get an individual notice cleared by the DfT to comply with regulations. A typical London Borough suspends more than 1,500 parking bays a month and it is claimed at least 16 authorities over the
past year had not applied for clearance for these signs. This means that in the London Boroughs alone almost 350,000 parking charge notices have been issued incorrectly.
Neil Davies, from law firm Caddick Davies, said: ‘From a legal perspective councils are on very shaky ground. They may be relying on the fact that people don’t challenge parking notices.’ However, a spokeswoman from London Councils said that: ‘A technical failure to comply with regulations does not invalidate signage, so long as the signs are clear and motorists are not misled’.
www.britishparking.co.uk
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