PARKING offences are to be decriminalised, giving council wardens power to issue tickets in Newton and Earlestown.

The decision comes after MPs branded the country's parking enforcement 'inconsistent and confused'.

A report from the Commons Transport Committee said it was 'absurd' that some parking offenders are dealt with by police and others in neighbouring areas dealt with by local councils.

Committee chairman Gwyneth Dunwoody, Labour MP for Crewe and Nantwich, said: "Our present parking system is, frankly, a mess."

She added that parking enforcement contracts with incentive regimes based on the number of tickets issued were 'utterly misguided'.

The committee said decriminalised parking enforcement, where councils take over matters from the police, must be extended across the country.

And St Helens Council has decided to act upon this advice.

A council spokesman said: "The new initiative will provide an initial 120 on-street pay parking spaces which are likely to be increased as the programme rolls out.

"The scheme will enable the council to adequately enforce parking restrictions, thereby improving safety and traffic flow, and increase the availability of short stay on street parking spaces."

In Liverpool, the city council decriminalised parking enforcement in 2002.

Drivers have criticised the move, saying it often leads to much stricter enforcement and more tickets.

St Helens Council proposes to employ five traffic wardens to 'police' the scheme, which will be self-financing.

It says it will draw in income from small on-street car parking charges and also from any subsequent fines for 'illegal' parking.

Some one and two hour free parking slots will remain, especially in residential areas where people are parking to visit family and friends rather than shopping.

There will be no charge for resident parking permits.

What do you think? Should the council take responsibility for parking fines? Will this lead to more tickets for drivers or do you welcome stricter enforcement? E-mail Neil Docking at ndocking@guardiangrp.co.uk to share your views.