Stewart Dickson MLA said: “The Minister and his Department do not have clear and concise plans in relation to the increasing of fines for parking offences. The Minister said that it was about improving motorist’s behaviour but we really know that he is just using as a revenue raising scheme.
“If he was being serious about ensuring that motorists obeyed the law around parking then he would be introducing a two tier system that is used elsewhere. For example a person who parks across two spaces would get a smaller fine then say somebody who double parks and causes traffic congestion.
“When the Minister first came to the Committee, I stated to him that his plans were not well thought out and I believe that he was unprepared for the scrutiny that the Committee is there to carry out. When he came back to the Committee he was still not able to effectively show that this would make a serious improvement of the use of parking facilities in our towns and cities. These current plans are not good enough for me to support but I will happily consider revised plans that the Minister brings back to the Regional Development Committee.”
ENDS