Will 2021 see government introduce the remaining powers of Part Six of the Traffic Management Act 2004? It certainly looks as though it’s heading in the right direction and so what does this entail? Well first of all some background information:

• The Traffic Management Act 2004 (TMA) was originally conceived to give local authorities a consistent civil enforcement framework to apply to all parking and traffic management schemes. The Act also offered the public checks and balances beyond the existing Road Traffic Act (RTA), including the redress of procedural impropriety and the imposition of a statutory duty on authorities to consider compelling reasons in appeals.

• The TMA was not, however, brought into force when in 2005, English local authorities instead commenced bus lane enforcement under the Transport Act 2000 (TA). This may have been due to the regulatory process of the TMA having been started but not allowing the bus lane enforcement powers to come under the Act at that time.

• In 2007, the civil enforcement of parking restrictions in England was brought under the TMA; an evolution of powers having previously been first de-criminalised under the RTA. With only Parking enforcement in England coming under the TMA in 2007 – while bus lane enforcement remained under the TA – a disparity and frustration in the ethos of the single, consistent civil enforcement framework originally conceived of the TMA was created.

• PATROL (Parking And Traffic Regulations Outside London) which I Chair surveyed member authorities in relation to their likelihood of taking up these powers if were they made available. It is clear that local authorities in England (outside London) have an interest in these powers and were willing to support any actions taken to raise awareness with Ministers. The Local Government Association (LGA) also published a report in 2017 “A country in a jam: tackling congestion in our towns and cities”.

• In October, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps indicated that he could move to grant English authorities the right to issue penalty charges for moving traffic offences: “I have been looking at powers outside of London provided to local areas to do some of these things, and think that I’ll shortly be making an announcement.”

• PATROL has been liaising with the Local Government Association on their communications on these powers and is developing a complimentary briefing document.

The Government has published its strategy for promoting active travel. The strategy document ‘Gear Change A bold vision for cycling and walking’ is wide-ranging in scope.

PATROL and the Traffic Penalty Tribunal are liaising with the Department for Transport (DfT) in respect of the introduction of these powers.

On behalf of PATROL I wrote to the Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps and offered to assist him and his civil servants in the introduction of these new powers and in his recent reply he has confirmed that:

The Department is currently developing the policy detail to support the implementation of the Part 6 powers, and that they will continue to discuss with key stakeholders on some of the complexities involved and will subsequently begin work on drafting regulations and statutory guidance. The implementation will require a number of statutory instruments to be made covering matters such as enforcement, level of penalties, approved devices, adjudication, representations and appeals. He finished by saying: “I hope to be able to continue to count on the support of local authorities such as Devon County Council, PATROL and the Traffic Penalty Tribunal going forward.”

Devon will of course have to decide just how they wish to proceed once these powers are finalised.