Traffic warden change would follow English lead
Thank goodness that someone actually follows the affairs of the Selkirk Community Council, but it is sad that not enough members of the public come along to our monthly meetings and see and hear for themselves just what we are talking about.
Had Susan Hill (letters page, October 19) attended the meeting she was writing about, she would have heard me make exactly the plea that she is advocating about a traffic warden for Selkirk.
Yes, I do read the national as well as the local media, and I know perfectly well that the new Chief Constable for Scotland, on his first day in office, was advocating getting rid of over 3,000 civilian staff from the present eight forces throughout Scotland, presumably including traffic wardens.
That is going to do no good for small burghs such as Selkirk where the streets regularly get clogged up by illegal and unthinking drivers parking where they like. We do indeed miss the late George Young who was not just a traffic warden but was also for many years a Special Constable.
That is why I asked the Selkirk Community Council to investigate the possibility of either themselves or Scottish Borders Council employing civilian traffic wardens.
I have friends in England who tell me that their local police force cannot afford to employ traffic wardens so their local council has done so instead, and while these wardens work under strict guidelines and assistance from the police their wages are paid for by their local council.
The plus side of the operation is that all fines are payable to the local authority and the profit ensued is spent on local schemes.
How about the money in such a local scheme here being spent on cleaning the pavements and providing floral displays?
We have to find out first if the same law which allows traffic wardens to be employed by a local authority in England can work here in Scotland. That was my point.
And yes, Ms Hill, my husband could easily help me with his wide experience of council matters, but I am perfectly capable of thinking and acting for myself to improve the Royal and Ancient Burgh of Selkirk in which I was born and have spent all of my life in.
Wilma B. Gunn,
Selkirk Community Councillor
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Weather for Selkirk
Tuesday 21 May 2013
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