Extra parking enforcement patrols to be put in place after school CCTV scheme is dropped

The CCTV car was used as a trial but has now been scrapped

The authority will hire additional parking officers after it scrapped a mobile CCTV scheme which was introduced on a trial basis in 2017, including two in Boston.

The cameras, which covered eight schools across Lincolnshire, cost £39,360 to run from October 2018 until December 2019 and handed out 435 penalty charges.

Boston schools covered by the trial were St Thomas’ School and Boston West Academy. Schools in Lincoln, Grantham, and Sleaford were also included.

But, the county council stopped the mobile CCTV due to concerns over the cost of further rolling out the scheme.

Now, councillors on the authority’s highways committee have supported additional patrols outside schools across the county.

Councillor Richard Davies, executive member for highways at the council, said the mobile cameras “frankly did not work well”.

“The reality is that it has not changed people’s behaviour,” he said.

“If the car is not there then people don’t act anymore socially, so what we’re going to explore now is to put extra resource into more traditional enforcement and enforcement officers on the ground doing foot patrols.”

He added that the issue of parking outside schools was the “hardest nut to crack” and there was “no one fix solution to the problem”.

Two additional enforcement officers are to be employed by the council, under proposals supported by the highways committee.

The plan would cost the authority £40,000 a year which would include a designated vehicle, radio, body worn camera and other equipment costs.

Council officers said existing enforcement staff would also be tailored to patrol outside school entrances along with the new recruits.

Officials added that the introduction of foot patrols showed a “greater compliance” from drivers outside schools.

Councillor Stephen Roe, vice chairman of the highways committee, said the authority needed to look at enforcing road markings in addition to the officers.

“The only solution is to get all the road markings enforceable and to allocate resources as and when we can to enforce it,” he said.