'Accounting blunder' as Lancashire's parking scheme breaks even

5:31pm Monday 18th August 2008

Comments (2)   Have your say »

COUNTY Hall chiefs say their gloomy forecasts about the controversial Parkwise scheme were wrong all along - because of an accounting blunder.

The announcement has been branded “ludicrous” by one council leader who claims his authority is being asked to subsidise the rest of Lancashire.

County Council experts had predicted the parking enforcement agreement between with 12 district councils would end up at least £1million in the red when the deal ends in September 2009.

The estimates sparked a council-by-council inquiry into why the scheme wasn’t breaking even.

But now county hall says cash generated by on-street parking enforcement in Preston and Lancaster has been wrongly spent on highways improvements and should be added to the general Parkwise pot.

The two cities are the only areas in the agreement where traffic wardens patrol the streets as well as off-street car parks.

The money generated so far, which has been given out through the Lancashire Local committees, comes to about £1million and Coun Matthew Tomlinson, cabinet member for sustainable development, said the county council would be able to refund the cash already spent.

He said: “All that money was never included as Parkwise income, and now legal advice has told us that was wrong.

“It’s a good news story with a slight tinge of embarrassment.

"We’ve been telling people for years that it’s a financial disaster, and then suddenly an accountant and a lawyer get together and say ‘what about all this money?’.”

District councils have been debating the future of parking enforcement in recent weeks and have until next month to agree to a similar model after 2009.

If no agreement is reached district councils will patrol their car parks and the county council will control highways enforcement.

Coun Tomlinson admitted the accounting changes would not please Preston and Lancaster, adding: “If I was them I would be saying ‘this is grossly unfair we are being used to subsidise the scheme’.

But it’s a pan-Lancashire agreement.”

Preston City Council leader Ken Hudson said: “Quite clearly the Parkwise scheme has been a disaster, and now if we are subsidising the other districts it’s absolutely ludicrous.

“It’s certainly not within the spirit of what should happen, and we will be getting together with Lancaster to make representations.”

Blackburn with Darwen is not part of Parkwise.