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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