Council to scrap parking charges

Causeway Coast and Glens councillors are to decide between three sets of parking charges for a range of locations throughout the Borough. All three proposals will see parking charges scrapped at Main Street.

Council officer John Richardson has put together the options for consideration by councillors. All three proposals would see charges removed at Main Street in Limavady, while two of the three proposals would also see parking charged at 40p elsewhere in the town.

Mr Richardson, in a report prepared for councillors ahead of a meeting scheduled to take place last night, estimated a saving of £2,448.60 to the public purse through the removal of parking charges at Main Street in Limavady.

Currently, the Causeway Coast and Glens council have to meet the cost of enforcing parking charges and maintenance of public car parks - including the cost of salaries for parking enforcement officers.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that not a single parking ticket was issued to drivers in Dungiven last year.

A breakdown of parking tickets issued in towns across East Londonderry was provided to the assembly, following a question from the DUP’s Gregory Campbell.

The figures show that just eight drivers received fines in Dungiven in 2014, and none whatsoever in 2015. In stark contrast, motorists in Coleraine received 4,000 tickets for parking breaches in 2015. In Limavady, more than 1,000 tickets were issued last year, with almost 400 penalties imposed in Portstewart and 529 in Portrush.

In her response, Regional Development Minister Michelle McIlveen said the number of penalty notices issued “depends on many factors, including the size of the town, the extent of parking restrictions and the volume of traffic”.

Ms McIlveen said: “These factors, plus the level of illegal parking, will influence where and how often traffic attendants are deployed. Traffic attendants will issue a penalty charge notice to any vehicle parked in contravention of a parking restriction.”