A town council have decided against employing more traffic wardens for the summer months.  

At the most recent meeting of Bude-Stratton Town Council, on January 11, councillors were asked to consider a ‘Service Level Agreement’ with Cornwall Council regarding the on and off-street parking enforcement in summer’.  

The agreement would see the council fund further enforcement officers to patrol the town during peak summer periods.  

One officer, between Monday and Saturday would cost £42.40 per hour, with Sundays and public holidays costing even more.  

During the meeting councillors expressed their concern at such costs. 

Cllr Kevin Colwill said: “I don’t have any recent figures, but I do know that back in the dim and distant days, in the district, Bude was, by some margin, the biggest contributor towards the North Cornwall district council funds from its car parks.  

“I think quite frankly that it is a bit of a cheeky one for Cornwall Council to be asking us to dip into our pockets, when they should be providing a better service anyway...because they’re taking quite a substantial amount of money out of the local economy through their car parks.”  

Cllr LaBroy expressed his agreement, stating: “I agree precisely with Cllr Colwill, Cornwall Council should be doing their job properly, which might sound odd for me as a Cornwall Councillor to say that, but I absolutely agree with that sentiment.” 

Following this, a motion was approved to not enter such an agreement with the council, thus not employing any further officers.