Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the AA Motoring Trust Request for Supplementary Information
Thank you for your letter of 12 January 2006.
I hope I can clarify the matter for you.
The point I was making was that there are intervention
powers in the Traffic Management Act 2004 (Part 2 Clause 20).
This allows an "Intervention Notice" to be served on
a local traffic authority if the appropriate national authority
deems it to be failing properly to perform its duties.
Whilst this Act has nothing to do with parking,
I was trying to make the point that the same approach should be
considered for parking. The Secretary of State approves special
parking area status and it would make sense if he could also remove
this status from an area that fails to perform its duties properly
in relation to parking. Whether this could be done by regulation
I am not sure. I think that DfT will need to look at the parking
legislation to establish whether the Secretary of State could
be authorised to do this. Perhaps he can already? I am not aware
if this has happened already but clearly it would give the public
more confidence if they knew that a badly failing local authority
could be properly dealt with.
There have been some serious breaches by local
authorities in the way they conduct their parking responsibilities.
I think the DfT needs a "big stick" if it is to see
its new guidance and regulations properly adhered to. I understood
that Sunderland is currently being challenged in some way, and
some years ago Bristol City had to repay hundreds of thousands
of pounds of towing away penalties for acting illegally.
20 January 2006
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