Penalty notices of almost £200,000 have been dished out to Angus parkers in just three months.
The enforcement of decriminalised parking came back to the streets of Angus on May 8, following months of discussion with the Scottish Government.
Community wardens were given powers to give out £60 fines to inconsiderate Angus parkers and the reintroduction of parking enforcement has seen “a rapid change in driver behaviour”.
Montrose SNP councillor Bill Duff said: “The parking situation in the town centre in Montrose is much better with plenty of spaces now available and an eradication of anti-social parking.
“The work of council wardens has been praised by the public and it’s nice to get thanks from the public rather than brickbats.
“There are calls from the public to lengthen the period allowed from 30 minutes and I’m supportive that this is now examined by officers.”
Angus Council hoped the introduction of the decriminalised arrangement would help end what had been condemned as a “free-for-all” in local burghs with long-standing criticism of drivers regularly parking for lengthy periods in time-limited on-street spaces and ignoring single or double yellow lines.
New figures – contained within a report to go before Tuesday’s policy and resources committee – have revealed 2,889 tickets were issued for on-street and 295 for off-street infringements in the first three months.
Ian Cochrane, Angus Council’s head of technical and property services, said the introduction of decriminalised parking enforcement is considered to be a success.
He said there is now a higher turnover of spaces to park in high streets and a reduction of inappropriate parking in disabled bays and on double and single yellow lines.
He said enforcement action will continue around problem town centres and will expand into other areas including working with Police Scotland to look at specific problem areas such as schools.
Consideration of extending the 30 minute parking time limits is under consideration as part of the potential for charging for public parking.
Resident parking permit systems are also being considered given the potential demand for parking spaces on both town centres and some residential areas and the additional revenue burden on the council.
Mr Cochrane said: “There is both a physical costs of establishing residential parking zones in terms of orders, signage and lining which require renewing; and a cost to administer the scheme to deal with applications, permits and enforcement.
“There would be a new administrative burden on the council to manage a permit system requiring entitlement checks and annual renewal.”
The introduction of decriminalised parking enforcement intended to assist with traffic management in Angus towns to encourage free flow of traffic, improve road safety, especially for pedestrians and vulnerable groups, improve servicing for local shops as well as assisting to promote the economic viability of town centres with increased parking turnover.
