Geoffrey Sell and I, with others from the parish & district councils, are meeting with Tesco and Co-op management on Monday morning to get their support for revised parking arrangements on Cambridge Road. This morning Geoffrey received another complaint about cars parking two-abreast on the pavement and blocking the way for pedestrians.

I raised concern at Thursday’s district council finance meeting about parking enforcement. There have been staff shortages, but I’m told new people have been recruited this month. I think we need more continuous coverage in Stansted.

I also think that PCSOs (police community support officers) should be allowed to book parking offenders. Errant drivers who park in the restricted area at pedestrian crossings can cock a snook at PCSOs because the Essex Chief Constable, Jim Barker-McCardle, won’t permit them to widen their role and become more effective and more efficient. There’s no point the chief constable and his police authority chairman, Robert Chambers agonising over redundancies if they aren’t flexible enough to allow their staff to do the job they want to do for the community.

After all, the parish and district councils pay for the PCSOs and the cash could easily be diverted into doing what the community wants if the police won’t co-operate.

I will be sharing this blog with the police chief constable and authority chaiman.