The clamp down on cars driving through Spalding’s Market Place and Hall Place is in full effect with 66 fines having been handed out in the first two weeks.
Vehicles have meant to have been banned from the roads during the daytime for many years but recently has been largely ignored as it wasn’t being policed.
The TRO (Traffic Regulation Order) was recently re-written and new signs put up barring any vehicles from the two roads between 10am and 4pm each day.
That was after a consultation was held where the majority of respondents said they wanted the centre of Spalding to remain traffic free.
Many local politicians including Coun Rob Gibson, who led the consultation and pushed for the installation, had called for barriers or bollards to be installed.
However the county council said this was too expensive.
But the early indications are that the TRO is being policed with 66 FPNs (Fixed Penalty Notices) having already been handed out.
The majority of those (55) were given out to drivers in Market Place.
There were 11 more given to those in charge of vehicles illegally in Hall Place.
The previous TRO did not ban people from parking on the streets with Lincolnshire Police stating it didn’t have the resources to police people driving through.
A spokesman for Lincolnshire County Council said its contractor which runs the wardens, APCOA, would be ‘patrolling daily’.
Coun Gibson initially began the push for the TRO to be enforced when chair of the Spalding Town Forum.
He’s now the deputy chair of Lincolnshire County Council.
He said: “I’m pleased that the work has been completed and the changes are now live.
“Hopefully this will make a very real positive impact for Market Place.”
