Thurrock Council has focused parking enforcement on known issues and hotspots to help make sure that nuisance parkers don't block roads. The recently published Parking Annual Report highlights last year's successes and lays out plans for the future.
Following a successful year in 2021/22 the team of 10 Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) has been increased to 15, and with 5 more posts being recruited the team will soon double in size to 20. This will enable them to respond more quickly to resident concerns about parking and provide greater focus on targeted operations tackling known issues.
Additional CEO patrols have prioritised schools, following concerns raised by parents and neighbours. Officers are also carrying out an ongoing operation to enforce against HGV drivers who park in the borough instead of using nearby HGV rest centres.
Successes include:
- additional night-time patrols in HGV parking hotspots leading to 1,590 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) being issued, totalling £84,984 in fines
- between February 2021 and April 2022 officers formally warned 122 lorries to move and issued 183 fines to 59 drivers that did not act on those warnings – more than 90% of those fines have been paid
- issuing 24,605 PCNs to vehicles that had broken parking rules between April 2021 and March 2022, meaning drivers were fined more than three-quarters of a million pounds for parking illegally in the borough
When combined with money raised through council operated car parks and on-street parking, it meant the parking and enforcement service funded all of its costs and generated an additional £241,909 surplus, which is ring-fenced for highways and transportation improvements.
Cllr Ben Maney, Cabinet Member for Highways, said: "Our aim is to make sure that our roads are safe and keep moving to allow residents and visitors to get around the borough. All enforcement activity takes place with this aim in mind.
"Over the last year we have prioritised enforcement activity to the issues we know cause the greatest concern for residents: HGVs and parking issues outside schools at dropping off and picking-up times. We will build on this work and provide additional resource to help curb issues caused by nuisance parking."
The report can be viewed online at thurrock.gov.uk/parking-enforcement/parking-documents-reports-and-auditing