A NEW parking patrol car will cost taxpayers £100,000.
On Monday the Examiner reported that Kirklees Council was considering using a vehicle with a camera to catch illegally parked cars. And now the cost of the proposal has emerged.
Kirklees Council’s cabinet will decide on Tuesday whether to commit £100,000 to the plan. Council officers believe the vehicle, camera and software will cost £73,000, with another £27,000 to pay for an extra member of staff to verify evidence and send out £70 penalty notices.
But a report to cabinet says: “It is anticipated that mobile camera parking enforcement will cover its set-up costs within the first 12 months.”
The camera car would be used to enforce parking regulations around schools, bus lanes, taxi ranks and cycle lanes.
Kirklees officers think the camera is needed to protect parking wardens from violent motorists.
The report says staff: “are regularly subject to unacceptable levels of threatening and violent behaviour, particularly in the evenings and weekends.”
Parking is a major problem around many Huddersfield schools.
Police have worked with staff and pupils to try and dissuade parents from parking too close to schools.
The council’s Labour cabinet will decide on the plan at its meeting on Tuesday at 4pm at Huddersfield Town Hall.
