THE future of PetersfieldÕs popular traffic warden Doris OÕNeill looked uncertain this week when East Hampshire district councillors decided to look at a scheme to take over on-street parking enforcement.

At a meeting of the district councilÕs cabinet last week members decided to carry out a £5,000 study into the implications of Òdecriminalised parkingÓ.

The system, which has already been adopted by 48 other authorities in the country, involves combining on-street with off-street parking enforcement.

Under the system the district council would take over on-street parking enforcement from the police all over East Hampshire.

The council currently looks after its own car parks throughout the district, and would extend enforcement to cover motorists parking on yellow lines in towns and villages.

Members of the cabinet were told that the study would take around 14 weeks to complete.

The consultantÕs report would be considered by the traffic and transport panel in October and recommendations would go before the cabinet in November next year.

Cabinet member John Venning put in a special plea for PetersfieldÕs current traffic wardens when he said that one of the reasons he moved to the area was because the traffic wardens in the town had been so courteous and helpful.

But a decision to take over the parking would throw the future into doubt for Doris, PetersfieldÕs well-known traffic warden, who hit the headlines last year when she married Colin OÕNeill.

Colin had admitted parking illegally all over Petersfield in a bid to catch DorisÕ attention.

Parking and highways manager for East Hampshire District Council John Elson told The Herald that no details had yet been worked out for the scheme as the council still had to carry out the study. He added: ÒThere are procedures in place to ensure that existing staff are protected.Ó

Insp Steve Sargent at Petersfield police said he was aware that the district council was considering the new parking scheme, but he did not envisage that it would be implemented for at least another year.