‘Some answers to questions, please...’

Arun District Council’s response, in the shape of councillor Paul Dendle’s letter (Gazette, April 19) ignores the point that many parking restrictions are unnecessary and out of date, and although they may force a few drivers into a pay-and-display car park, raising cash and penalties, many serve only to annoy council tax payers and discourage visitors.

The seaward end of St Winifrede’s Road is one example. Of course, some enforcement will be necessary where good order and traffic and pedestrian safety is a genuine concern – in designated car parks and near road junctions, for instance.

Regrettably, the bureaucratic process to amend parking restrictions is very demanding – expensive and time-consuming – and I don’t see West Sussex highways department doing any in the foreseeable future, only new ones!

It is time, therefore, that Arun justifies the matter. By copy of this letter, I will ask the council’s chief executive to answer the following questions. The answers should be readily available, the council’s financial year-end having just passed. The same information should be used to assess the performance of the newly outsourced enforcer at the end of the first year, when we should ask the same questions again:

What was the number of penalty notices issued, differentiated between in car parks and on street, and the number issued on vehicles registered to an address not in Arun district?

How many appeals were there, how many were upheld, how many paid at “half-price” in the 14 days and, how many were outstanding after three months?

What is the overdue collection process, with timescales, number of cases passed out to a debt collector and on to county court for payment, etc. – all with monetary value?

What were the set-up and ongoing costs from the inception of the present arrangements from April, including those cross-charged from other departments, to include training, equipment, the acquisition of the vans, maintenance of car parks, the pay-and display machines, administration and total salary cost – all without “massaging” the figures by amortising over several years?

What was the income from the machines, permits and season tickets and traders’ subsidy schemes, and thus the “profit”? And are any of these figures skewed disproportionately towards any one area, e.g., Bognor, Arundel or Littlehampton?

John Morris

Maltravers Drive

Littlehampton