DEVON County Council is to take over the enforcement of on-street parking from local District Councils from Tuesday April 1. 

This will create a single countywide service responsible for all on-street parking, with 45 Civil Parking Enforcement officers transferring to the County Council.

The move follows the County Council's review of its Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) over the past year in order to reduce the operating deficit of this service.

After the first year the revised “in-house” service is expected to deliver annual savings of around £400,000 (measured against the review year of 11/12), as well as offering a good prospect of on-going savings and provide a flexible service that can meet future needs.

Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Highway Management, said: “It will probably be difficult to notice any difference in the service on the ground, but the civil enforcement officers working on behalf of the County Council will only be covering on-street parking.

"These changes offer the greatest opportunity to reduce operational costs and to provide much better value for money for Devon residents.

"We will continue to work with District Councils through the transition and wherever possible to make parking enforcement more efficient across the county.

"This should provide us with a more efficient and flexible service where there will be the possibility to undertake cross district boundary working where required.”

The District Councils have provided on-street enforcement and back-office administration under agreement with the County Council since the introduction of the CPE service in 2008, after the Police withdrew its traffic warden service.

However, notice was served to the District Councils in March 2013 to end the existing agreements.

Anyone who receives a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) on or after the 1 April 2014 and wishes to make payment, or appeal a ticket please go to www.devon.gov.uk/parking or contact 0345 155 1075.