Westminster to reduce use of parking cameras

Westminster City Council has pledged to further reduce the number of fixed CCTV cameras used to enforce single yellow lines.

The number of  parking enforcement cameras has already dropped from 179 to 50, the authority said.

The council's review will focus on 41 of the 50 remaining cameras, which are used to enforce yellow lines. Unless the review finds that a camera is the only “proportionate, practical and safe way to maintain traffic flow”, it will be decommissioned or redeployed, said the council.

Cameras will also be unplugged in cases where a camera had “achieved its objective and improved compliance”.

The council said the latest move chimes with its efforts to make parking safe, easy and fair. Over the next few weeks the council is set to switch on more than 3,000 parking bay sensors, which allow drivers to find a space by using a free app. In July traffic marshalls will be introduced across Westminster, who will work to improve compliance, the council said.

Nickie Aiken, Westminster City Council’s cabinet member for parking, said: “Westminster City Council’s pledge to make ‘parking safe, easy and fair’ is more than just a slogan. Put simply, we’re not convinced that using CCTV cameras to manage single yellow lines is always seen as fair, which is why we’re holding this street-by-street review. We want to encourage motorists to park properly rather than punish those who don’t.”

Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “Drivers will welcome this move from the council which last year made £40m from its parking activities. This was the largest ‘profit’ in England. The point is not what sort of enforcement is used, but whether it is fair and is seen to be fair. Westminster seems to have grasped this.”

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