A number of campaigners in Portsmouth believe the government's recent plans for parking regulations will be good news for the city.

Local government secretary Eric Pickles recently said he wants all funds generated from parking enforcement notices to go towards helping high streets and local motorists. He is also calling for a ban on CCTV, so that only parking attendants are relied upon to catch those who leave their cars illegally.

Councils in Portsmouth, Havant, Fareham and Gosport told The News they do not use CCTV in any case, but this is not to say Portsmouth will not benefit from government intervention on the issue of parking.

John Perry helped to gather in excess of 4,000 signatures on a petition designed to persuade councillors in Hayling Island to go back on plans to increase parking charges.

"The council needs to listen to the voters and listen to what they are being told by central government. Residents should not have to pay extortionate car parking charges just to pop to the shops," he explained.

Mr Pickles believes councils are making money from parking fines and charges - and this is something that is prohibited by law. He plans to put a stop to unfair rules on the issue of parking and force local authorities to take a more measured approach to parking regulations and charges.

Should councils across the UK be forced to generate funds from parking in a fairer manner, some may decide to employ more parking attendants in a bid to identify those who leave their vehicles in places they should not, rather than rely on tools such as CCTV.

A report by the RAC Foundation found Portsmouth City Council made a £1.98 million surplus on its parking operations in 2011-12.

Regulatory changes by the government over the coming months could force local authorities to rethink their strategy when it comes to parking and find fairer ways to generate revenue to fund improvements.

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Council officials in Staffordshire are considering new ideas to overhaul the parking enforcement regulations currently in place.

District and borough councils in the county were given the power to issue fines in 2007, but only two of the eight authorities running such schemes are currently operating with a surplus, reports the Sentinel.

In each of the other six areas where parking enforcement is down to smaller councils, operating costs are higher than the income that is being raised through fines and parking fees. As such, Staffordshire County Council has confirmed it is to carry out a review of the arrangements.

Should it make significant changes to the way parking is dealt with in the county, these could be in place by 2015.

Among the options to be considered by the council are a county-wide contract for on-street parking being drawn up, groups of district councils joining forces to deliver parking services and a team being directly employed by the city council to run parking in Staffordshire.

With financial problems a particular concern, there is a significant demand for enforcement services. This could mean the employment of parking attendants with the power to issue fines remains a priority for authorities in the region in the years to come.

Glenda Miller, who chairs the environment and infrastructure theme group of Newcastle Town Centre Partnership, said there is a need to balance the demands of motorists, businesses and councils.

"The fact is that parking is a part of the council's budget, and so if they were to make parking free they would have to make cuts somewhere else. Also, we haven't seen any studies that show free parking results in higher footfall," she remarked.

With this in mind, it seems the need to make money from parking will continue to exist in Staffordshire for some time to come.

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The last few years have undoubtedly been a difficult time for the UK's retail market, but it is showing signs of improvement.

Indeed, the latest statistics from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) show September's figures were once again largely positive. High street sales continued to grow strongly in the 12 months to September, with the fastest pace of expansion at any time since June 2012 recorded.

Barry Williams, chief merchandising officer for food at Asda and chair of the CBI distributive trades survey panel, said: "It's encouraging to see the high street on the road to recovery, with particularly strong growth from furniture and carpet retailers, department stores and recreational goods retailers. But the retail sector is not out of the woods yet with consumer confidence still fragile despite the rise in spending."

The immediate picture is a positive one though, as the CBI believes retail figures are likely to improve once again in October.

With September's results already good enough to beat solid expectations and predictions for the sector, it seems the retail market is improving faster than many experts first suspected it might.

Of those retailers that responded to the CBI's survey, 46 per cent said their sales volumes were up in September in comparison with a year ago, while only 12 per cent indicated they were down. The balance of +34 per cent is the strongest at any point in the last 15 months.

It is no secret that plenty of growth in the retail market in recent times is the result of a boom in online shopping, with many consumers opting to spend their money via ecommerce platforms before waiting for their orders to arrive at their front doors.

This could increase employment opportunities for drivers, as many of the country's major retailers find they need to expand their fleet in order to get online deliveries to the people who have purchased them.

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