Commenting on Surrey County Council’s confirmation that they have agreed a new seven year parking and traffic enforcement contract with Marston Holdings Ltd, Helen Maguire commented to Epsom & Ewell Times:

The moves by SCC to privatise and centralise parking enforcement is just another example of the SCC’s Tory party’s attempt to concentrate power at the centre and away from working with local communities. The moves to put revenues into private companies, divorced from the communities that the like of EEBC serve are an affront to local democracy. Last year, the same centralising tendencies within SCC broke up the working groups that the County Council had with its local community councils - such as Epsom & Ewell and Mole Valley - preferring instead to silence the voice of local residents, so enabling them to get on with running the County as they see fit - that is, with less opposition or scrutiny.

Currently, Epsom & Ewell BC successfully manage parking issues through their Contact Centre directly with the Parking Manager and his team of wardens. This self-funded, not-for-profit-regime has worked well for many years because it is operated by local people who know the area intimately and have kept our residents and other road users safe. Now we see emerging a centralised enforcement regime, put out to private contractors, who in our view, will put more emphasis on enforcement to increase revenues to pay shareholders, rather than a strong but fair local system, that works directly for local interests.