I recently submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to Cheshire East Council to find out how many parking tickets had been issued in Alderley Edge during the last financial year, April 2009 to March 2010, and the amount of money generated from them.
The figures supplied to me by Cheshire East Council reveal they issued 2684 tickets in the last financial year which raised £80,520. These figures represent very little change from the previous financial year, May 2008 to March 2009, when 2619 tickets were issued in Alderley Edge, raising £78,790.
Cheshire East took over responsibility for issuing parking tickets in May 2008 so the figures above include no fines for April 2008.
Last month we reported that Heather Weinholt has written to Alderley Edge Parish Council and Rob Cramer, Area Traffic Engineer at Cheshire East Council, on behalf of village traders to request a full review of the parking restrictions in the village. Explaining how the parking restrictions in Alderley Edge affect local businesses, Heather said "Since the council have taken on regulating the parking in the area the shopkeepers have become very dissatisfied with the current parking restrictions.
"Each person who comes to the village and cannot park is a customer lost for one or more of us. Each person who gets a ticket is another customer who will think twice about coming to the village, another customer lost. A couple of miles up the road is Handforth Dean where parking is ample and free and without persecution, they will go there instead."
Commenting on this article local resident David Barraclough said "I write in support of the general views of Heather Wienholt and others over the parking problems in the village and to suggest that another aspect strongly needs to be included in the discussion, namely the attitude and 'zero tolerance' approach being taken by the parking wardens."
Other local residents however feel there should be more stringent enforcement of illegal parking. Vin Summer said "Too many people park illegally and dangerously in Alderley, and while it is important that there are clear signs ... it is time there was more not less enforcement around London Road and Clifton Street."
My Freedom of Information request extended to cover Wilmslow where 5204 parking tickets were issued last financial year, generating £132,118.51. Unlike in Alderley Edge though, these figures represented a significant drop from the previous year when 6914 tickets were issued, raising £208,550 from May 2008 to March 2009. Which raises the question of whether this is due to a better provision for parking in Wilmslow or less traffic wardens patrolling the town?
Councillor Frank Keegan said "I presume the level of fines has dropped because the public are being more aware of the activities of the wardens and are taking more care. 2008/2009 was the start of civil enforcement (wardens issuing tickets) and therefore I suspect people were not being as careful as they now are."
Council Keegan added "Most of the income came from on street fines, which gets used only in Highways Improvements. The off street fines, from car parks, can be used for car park improvements, so to the extent that we have fines off street you can see that in some cases that saves us having to spend the money from our budgets and so helps keep Council Tax down."
The initial purpose of my FOI request was to gather an understanding of how many tickets were being issued to those illegally parking in the loading bay outside the Tesco Express store on London Road. On 29th April I published an article alerting our readers to the fact that the stretch outside Tesco was now a loading bay as many local residents hadn't noted the change. As a result parking tickets had regularly been issued on this stretch of the high street since the store opened on February 5th.
However, the response I received from Cheshire East, stated only 4 tickets had been issued in this loading bay between 5th February and 29th April this year generating £140.00, because they were all paid at the discounted rate. I did question the accuracy of this response given we had had 4 people tell alderleyedge.com they had received a ticket during this period and I had seen far more than 4 tickets issued there but, much to my surprise, I was assured the figures were correct.
Let us know your thoughts about parking enforcement in the village via the comment box below.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
Parking in the village is an issue given that a large number of people working in the vicinity need to drive to work as there is a lack of adequate public transport. This is compounded by the fact that visitors are often unable to stay longer than the one/two hours parking time available and that is if they are lucky enough to find a parking space.
It's about time that the issue was seriously addressed in the interests of residents, businesses and visitors alike. Over zealous 'policing' is putting people off coming to the village. Why meet for lunch here when I can go to Wilmslow/Hale/Knutsford and park for far longer and shop without feeling I am being hounded by the parking gestapo?!!!!