Flintshire council nets over £157,000 in parking fines, new figures show

FLINTSHIRE Council raked in more £157,000 through parking fines during the last financial year, new figures have revealed.
Local authority enforcement officers dished out 4,887 penalty charge notices (PCNs) to drivers in the county during the 2023/24 financial year.
Officers in Flintshire have the power to issue tickets of either £50 or £70 to people who break parking rules in the area, depending on the severity of the breach.
If a PCN is paid within 14 days, the charge is reduced by 50 per cent, but can also be increased by the same rate for non-payment within 56 days.
A report going to backbench councillors next week shows the majority of fines handed out in the 12-month period were in relation to off-street parking.
This accounted for 3,330 PCNs and was compared to 1,497 for on-street parking breaches.
Katie Wilby, Flintshire’s chief officer for streetscene and transportation, said in the report: “Officers patrol all areas of Flintshire where parking restrictions exist, and which are covered by a traffic regulation order (TRO).
“This includes double and single yellow lines, loading and unloading areas, disabled bays, limited waiting areas, taxi ranks, and any council controlled off-street parking areas (car parks).
“Enforcement officers will issue PCNs to drivers who have parked in contravention of any regulations in force at that time.
“Parking illegally or in the wrong place on the highway network or council-run car parks may result in a PCN being issued.”
The Wales Penalty Processing Partnership, which is part of Denbighshire County Council, is responsible for dealing with appeals and payments on Flintshire’s behalf.
The authority usually has nine enforcement officers available to deal with parking and environmental issues in the area.
However, two of the posts are currently vacant, with the report highlighting recruitment challenges due to the controversy surrounding such jobs.
Ms Wilby said: “Recruitment of enforcement officers can often be a slow and labour-intensive process.
“Recent recruitment exercises have demonstrated that the roles attract few applications and/or poor-quality applications.
“We find that the contentious nature of the role means there is often low interest in the job adverts when they are circulated.
“For similar reasons, the demands of the role mean that sickness absence levels within the team can be higher than in other desk-based roles.”
The report will be considered by members of the council’s environment and economy scrutiny committee when they meet on Tuesday (July 16, 2024).

By Liam Randall – Local Democracy Reporter