COUNTY Durham’s police chief has called for parish councils to ease off on their criticisms of the force for parking problems.
Chief constable Mike Barton visited Etherley Parish Council last month to discuss speeding and vehicles blocking pathways – the latter is also a problem brought to light in Cockfield this year.
Mr Barton said the police would “do its best” on parking infringement, but he stressed there were limits to what he could do off the A68 in Toft Hill and Etherley.
He added: “They tell me this village was high up on the list for a bypass 20 or 30 years ago – that’s not a policing issue.
“I am more than happy to accept responsibility to try to make sure people are safe and secure so things rub along nicely but I cannot build a bypass – it’s not in my remit.”
Mr Barton said his “profuse apology” to Etherley Parish Council last month was down to him thinking the parish council had not been given the community speed watch equipment and cameras it had been promised.
However, the pack had been delivered. He added: “As it turned out I did not need to be quite so embarrassed. They did have the equipment.”
The chief constable was shown photographs of cars blocking pavements at the meeting.
He said councillors told him the police “did nothing” and offered his apologies if that was the case.
“They showed photographs and said the cops came and did nothing – I said if that’s the case then we’ve let you down,” added Mr Barton.
“But if we booked these cars or asked them to move where are these cars going to park tomorrow?”
Mr Barton feared a desire to ticket every infringement in the village had a “whiff of incomers being ticketed” – targetting those who had just moved in.
He suggested ideas, such as parish councils buying up land and forming communal car parks, as possible solutions to similar impasses.
And when it came to meting out tickets, he called for balance.
Mr Barton said: “If you want the police to ticket people, and I would question whether that’s even the primary responsibility of the police, you only have to look at double yellow lines where people have been booked for years – people are still being booked for it so you’re never going to enforce your way out of it.”
Mr Barton pointed to the number of new builds in villages and increasing car ownership as more deep-seated reasons behind kerb mounting problems.
He added: “It’s not fair that police are somehow being beaten by everybody’s stick – we’re never going to be able to ticket everything – there needs to be some provision made for parking.
“Either that or you say to people who want to buy a house that you can only have one car.
“If I were to start enforcing fines in all the villages in Teesdale so that everybody who parks on the pavement gets done – anywhere that I think there’s an inconvenience to other people – you wouldn’t have enough newsprint to be able to print the letters of discontent.” However, Mr Barton said he understood the concerns of parish councils and has offered Etherley and Toft Hill some extra help.
He added: “As a result of that meeting they will now have their own personal traffic cop – PC Steven Musty – a dedicated traffic officer who’ll be working with them.”
Mr Barton hoped PC Musty would be checking in with Etherley Parish Council regularly to keep tabs on policing in the parish alongside PCSOs. He added: “I am very sympathetic to parish councils – all I am asking for is that individuals are not anti-social and that we can all live in harmony.
“I’ve assured them we are taking this seriously – but not by booking everything that moves.”
