Parking

TWO drivers in North Wales have clocked up 38 parking tickets between them, with £2,600 in fines still unpaid, while across North Wales motorists still owe local councils £176,951 in unpaid parking tickets.

The biggest offender was a motorist in Gwynedd who has managed to amass £1,455 in fines from 27 parking tickets. In Denbighshire one driver had 11 parking tickets and still owes £1,210. Figures for Flintshire and Conwy have not been made available.

There are two issues here: firstly, why don't we have figures for Conwy? Secondly, parking - or the lack of it - has long been a bone of contention between hoteliers and the councils. That we need a lot of extra parking in Llandudno and Colwyn Bay is beyond dispute, but as the Empire hotel showed many years ago, with its ingenious rotating and stacking car parking system, there are answers to the problems that don't necessarily involve massive and sprawling car parks. Of course, there are other solutions (besides cars) to getting about, one being a reliable 'park 'n ride' scheme. But if we want to encourage people into Llandudno and Colwyn Bay, then we have to make it possible for them to get to and from their cars and hotels quickly and easily. It's not rocket science; but it does need investment and ideas. The hotel-shopping delivery service is one idea, creation of a new mode of reliable transport is another - monorail or tram being favoured options. But whatever is done, it needs to be done sooner rather than later.