A SPECIAL committee could be formed to look into the issue of parking in Bentham.

The move was proposed after the town's Mayor, Wendy Dowbiggin, was approached by traders worried about police action to combat illegal parking.

She told members of Bentham Town Council on Monday that she had been approached on several occasions, and said traders were worried that their business would be affected by the police issuing parking tickets.

Following the meeting, Coun Dowbiggin told the Herald it was a "catch 22" situation, as many people were ignoring the 30 minute time limit on Main Street.

She said: "Traders do feel very strongly that at the end of the day this is not long enough for a person to shop, but then again we do have free car parks in the town."

Speaking at the meeting, Coun Dowbiggin said signs directing visitors to the town''s car parks were not good enough, and that they should be improved and made more visible.

PC Danny Kay also attended the meeting. He told members that as the council was receiving negative feedback about the police taking action against illegal parking, perhaps councillors should consider doing away with single yellow lines or even adopting a policy to educate parkers.

Various ideas were discussed, including one to increase the waiting time from half an hour to an hour.

However, all members agreed it was an important issue which needed a lot of thought.

It was agreed to discuss the matter further and possibly form a small sub-committee, with a police presence, to look into all aspects of the problem.

Coun Dowbiggin added: "We don't want to see people stopping coming to Bentham because of the parking, but we do have free car parks and it's a problem which faces all places."

This week Pam Woof, a member of Bentham Traders, told the Herald: "We're not against the police enforcing parking restrictions because they are often flouted. But it would be helpful if people were allowed to park for three quarters of an hour on the Main Street and not just half an hour.

"There are always two sides to the argument. You want the parking to be enforced and you don't like to see people hogging the parking spaces. On the other hand you could say half an hour was too short."

Also at the meeting, PC Kay informed members of the council of the four main target areas for the district's police force.

These included promoting better driver behaviour and targeting speeding and illegal parking.

Other plans included taking a more pro-active approach to drug abuse, with a target of a 15 per cent increase in arrests.

Another target was to address the issue of theft with a much more visible police presence and more patrols.

PC Kay also reported the crime figures for January to December 1998 for Ingleton and the surrounding area.

The figures showed 12 house burglaries with 38 burglaries at other properties.

There had also been 50 thefts from cars, 11 stolen vehicles, 19 shoplifting offences and 38 incidents of criminal damage.

In all, there were 200 reported crimes in total.

When members asked how these figures compared with the rest of Craven, PC Kay said that on the whole they were a lot better off than in other areas of the district.

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