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January
5, 2006
Town
councillors in 'blackmail' row over traffic warden costs
Angry
Burnham-On-Sea councillors have accused the District Council of
"blackmail" after claiming they have been told to pay
towards the cost of a traffic warden in the town or face not having
one at all.
 The
town council this week rejected a request for £6,000 to
be paid towards the cost of funding a Police Community Support
Officer in Burnham who would help with the enforcement of parking
regulations.
Speaking
at this week's town council meeting, Cllr John Morgan said: "We
are being asked to pay for something here which we will have no
powers over and which we might not actually see in Burnham."
"They
are saying that if we don't pay we won't get a PCSO. That
amounts to blackmail."
 He
added: "The introduction of PCSOs has been government-driven.
They paid for them for three years and are now lumbering local
councils with the costs. PCSOs have no powers except overseeing
minimum parking regulations."
And
Town Council Leader Cllr Peter Clayton asked: "How often
would we see the PCSO if we were to pay the £6,000?"
"We
need someone in Burnham every day, not shared with other areas.
We wouldn't be getting that here."
But
Sedgemoor's Corporate Director Doug Bamsey, who was present at
the meeting, said the council's concerns were unfounded.
"We
are offering co-operation and positive partnership here - it's
certainly not blackmail," he said. "There is no other
way to enforce parking other than with traffic wardens."
He
said he wanted to help the town council tackle the problem of
car parking in Burnham and Highbridge.
But
the town council is angry at being asked to pay for the service
and unanimously voted not to proceed.
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