Parking shock in store outside your front door

Thousands of residents could be forced to pay to park outside their homes as part of the biggest shake-up of parking for almost two decades.

Traditional traffic wardens will disappear from the streets of central Bognor Regis next year with the four wardens, and their supervisor, having their work transferred to council community inspectors in a major shake-up.

The wardens will have the option of transferring to the new Arun District Council structure when it takes effect in June next year in the biggest shake-up in just over 18 years.

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But radical changes are likely in January 2011 with the current controlled parking zone in the town centre set to be extended into its surrounding roads.

This will potentially see thousands more residents having to pay to park outside their homes.

West Sussex County Council is seeking to absorb more roads into the controlled parking zone, or voucher parking area. It is currently bounded by Gloucester Road, West Street, Canada Grove, Spencer Street, London Road and Glamis Street.

Possible roads to be included in the extension would be in the Ockley Road, Longford Road and Linden Road areas as well as Aldwick Road and Felpham Road.

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Public consultation will be carried out before any final decision is made to bring in a scheme which would have limited free parking, residents' permits and hourly charges.

If the extension does start, enforcement will be carried out by the Arun community inspectors after district councillors voted to take over responsibility for on-street parking enforcement in a year's time from the police.

And controlled parking could also be introduced around central Littlehampton and in Arundel.

Taking responsibility for moving vehicles which were badly parked or parked all day would help to keep the Arun district moving and make streets safer, councillors said.

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Norman Dingemans, in charge of Arun's economic policies, said the council wanted to be able to alter the parking rules within the zones to help town-centre traders.

"We could remove the double yellow lines within them and have limited parking for 20 or 30 minutes to allow people to pick up their dry cleaning or use a cash machine," he said.

"If we could do that, and fully enforce it with a proper system and proper people in place, it would do a lot to avoid streets being blocked by people parking all day.

"People who want to stay for longer can go to a car park and pay."

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