Ref. 25653-34That's what residents like Jason Putt say about Swindon's residents' parking zones as a new batch of traffic wardens get ready to ticket cars

RESIDENTS' parking could be cut from two permits a household to one after 14 extra parking wardens take to the streets.

There are no concrete plans for such a change, but the council says something must be done about illegally-parked cars which are a road safety hazard and can hamper emergency vehicles.

On September 1, responsibility for policing Swindon's double yellow lines and parking offences generally will pass from traffic wardens and the police to the council, along with the revenue generated from fines.

There are currently only two traffic wardens for the whole of Swindon, but the council is taking on 14 new parking attendants to add to its existing 24, ready for a crackdown.

As well handling residents' parking enforcement, the new wardens will have responsibility for policing illegal parking in disabled drivers' bays, pedestrianised areas, bus lanes, and anywhere that parking is restricted or prohibited. Offenders ticketed will have to pay £60 or £30 if they pay within a fortnight.

The council claims that one of their main roles will be to deter people from parking illegally in residents' bays, as well as clearing cars from double yellow lines. But many residents with permits say they are forced to park illegally because there are too few residents' bays to accommodate the number of drivers with permits.

Council leader Mike Bawden (Con, Old Town and Lawn) stressed that there were no firm plans to change the residents' parking rules, but he did say there would be a thorough review of the system once the impact of the new parking patrols became apparent.

He also sympathised with the view of residents who said they would use the bays if only there was enough space.

Coun Bawden added: "As far as I am concerned, we are going to have to look at our residents' parking schemes. We could find that we will have to look again at the number of permits issued per household."

Coun Bawden pointed out that the Government and Opposition alike were committed to reducing the number of cars on the streets, thereby cutting congestion and improving the environment.

He also said that in some areas people had garages, but used them for storage and that people buying, for example, a terraced house should consider how many cars they could practicably have and where they might keep the vehicles.

In addition, he stressed that there was a real problem with residents' bays being taken by drivers with no permits, when there were adequate car parking facilities elsewhere.

He added: "I accept we have a particular problem with parking, but I do not have a problem with our wardens ticketing, for example, people who park all over Victoria Road because it is dangerous. There are parking spaces nearby and about 40 per cent of those spaces are empty on a normal business day."

The new council traffic attendants will ultimately answer to Tony Foss, leader of the authority's Parking Services Department.

Like Coun Bawden, Mr Foss sympathises with permit holders who say there are not enough marked bays. But he believes that the crackdown will bring numerous benefits, including improving emergency service response times, improving road safety at junctions, preventing pedestrians from having to negotiate their way around cars parked on pavements, and deterring drivers with no permits from using residents' spaces.

He also pointed out that it was not the responsibility of the council to provide parking spaces for homes which were built with none.

He added: "The objective of residents' parking was to keep commuters out of residents' parking bays and allow residents to park outside their own homes. In that regard, it has been very successful, but it has not stopped some residents from buying more and more vehicles.

"But if one chooses to live in, say, the town centre, it could be argued that there is perhaps less need for multiple vehicles."

Currently there are 12 residents' parking zones, covering spaces in and around Crombey Street, the Railway Village, Chester Street, Dixon Street, Dover Street, Clifton Street, Hunt Street, York Road, Manchester Road and Broad Street, Dean Street, Avenue Road and Springfield Road.

There are 5,370 spaces in car parks in the town centre and 438 in Old Town. Swindon as a whole has 24 council car parks, of all sizes.