There will be just eight traffic wardens patrolling the streets of Caerphilly County Borough when the council takes over responsibility to police on-street car parking.
Caerphilly County Borough Council will have responsibility for civil parking enforcement from April 8 this year. The team of officers tasked with issuing parking fines will be formed of six new recruits and two officers already employed to police the council’s own car parks.
One councillor described the number as “wholly inadequate”.
Priority will be given to enforcing town centres, with councillors asked to share their “ward intelligence” to ensure illegal parking hot spots are addressed.
Councillors were told at a recent full council meeting that all officers will wear body cameras for their own safety.
But concerns were raised about the number of officers being tasked with the job, with Plaid Cymru councillor Lyndon Binding saying: “I think the number is wholly inadequate.
“If you look at how many people and how many wards we’ve got, I think it just pales into insignificance.
“Eight is nowhere near enough. It’s going to be very difficult to sell this to our residents when they are now seeing that we have control, yet we’re unable to police it.”
Under the traffic regulation order adopted by the council, parking officers will be expected to work 7am to 10pm, seven days a week including bank holidays.
But the meeting heard there was flexibility to change shift patterns to address any major problems raised in the first months of operation.
Labour councillor James Pritchard agreed that the number of officers “was on the low side”, adding that rural areas would suffer with town centres being prioritised.
“In terms of expectation management, I’ve heard residents saying that once the council comes along it will all be sorted, and I’ve had to say let’s see what happens,” he said.
“It’s a step in the right direction, and I hope there is scope for improving the numbers over time.”
Cllr Pritchard also praised the council for reducing residential parking permit fees from £30 to £15 after the original figure proved controversial amongst residents and some councillors.
But deputy leader Sean Morgan said the council was adopting a “prudent” approach in its officer recruitment.
He said: “Surely it’s a lot better to start with too few officers where you can increase them, to start with four officers too many where you have to cause redundancies.”
The scheme will cost the authority £511,000 to implement, with improvements to road signs and lines costing £300,000.
The report estimates that operational costs could total more than £200,000 in the first five years, with any surplus from fines ringfenced to reinvest into the scheme.