PARKING wardens have raised almost £1million from dishing out fines in Macclesfield.
They issued 26,612 tickets across the whole of the former borough of Macclesfield – netting £915,337.
The release of the figures requested under the Freedom of Information Act is a coup for the Express, which was initially told it would have to pay £350 for the information.
"It is a victory for Freedom of Information," said Councillor Darryl Beckford, who has called for Cheshire East Council (CEC) to be more open.
Parking bosses finally surrendered the details two days after last week’s front page story in which leading councillors and traders joined our appeal for transparency. The council had taken two weeks to respond to the original request.
Parking police slapped more than 13,000 notices on vehicles in the town centre alone, raising nearly half of the £1million total.
They handed out more than 1,100 a month at an average of 40 tickets per day between May 14, 2008, when they first hit the the town centre streets, and March 31, 2009.
Traders, who are leading calls for limited free parking after 3pm weekdays or on Saturday, greeted the news as a victory in their fight against CEC parking policy.
Ian Allport, chairman of the indoor market traders association, said: "What is happening to all that money? Is it going back into the town at all? I hope this can now help our own cause to get better parking arrangements in the town centre. Parking charges, roadworks and the prowling of the wardens means there is hardly anyone in town on a market day. It is a massive issue."
Coun Beckford added: "I am really keen for the council to be proactive and to think more about what people actually want to know in advance."
He is calling on CEC to include a "disclosure log" of public information, such as warden figures, on its website.
Showing comments 1 to 4 and replies | View All
Leigh Turner (17/06/2009 at 19:06)
They could use the money to maintain the roads.
The Satisfied Customer (17/06/2009 at 22:26)
Darryl Beckford, Macclesfield West (19/06/2009 at 11:51)
http://darrylbeckford.blogspot.com/2009/06/residents-parking.html
Roy The Boy, Macclesfield (20/06/2009 at 17:21)
My family wont be going to Macc Centre again after a little hitler warden gave my wife a ticket for the daftest of reasons . . .
For parking on the line of the parking space instead of within the line at the (largely empty) market multi story car park. The main reason was because she could not open the door to get our baby out of the car as there was a large concrete post in the way.
Instead of seeing sense the council ignored our appeal, so well done council morons, see you at the Trafford Centre where they dont persecute mothers with babies.