More traffic wardens to hit Dudley's streets
The number of traffic wardens at Dudley Council will be increased by more than a third in a bid to tackle illegal parking in problem areas, it was revealed today.
The council says a shortage of enforcement officers means out-of-town regions, including the roads around Dudley's Russells Hall Hospital, have been overlooked.
But now five staff will be recruited in the coming weeks, in addition to the 14 employed by the authority.
Transport chief Councillor Judy Foster said the council should have 23 officers but previous cuts have left the numbers depleted.
It comes as residents living near Russells Hall Hospital complain that new restrictions designed to stop the roads getting clogged up are not being enforced.
The Express & Star has revealed that no tickets were issued in the surrounding streets in three months since the crackdown started.
Some 125 drivers have been fined for illegally parking in Pensnett High Street outside the hospital since July 1 – where parking was already banned. Council chiefs say there were no tickets issued in neighbouring roads in the same period.
In the year up to October 1, there were 21 notices handed out in Busheyfields Road, and just two apiece in Elgar Crescent and Tennyson Street. None in Byron Street and Vicarage Road.
Councillor Foster said: "Enforcement resources have been very thinly spread and the priority points were busy areas in town centres and other areas such as Russells Hall have suffered."
