The council is looking to recruit more parking wardens to deter illegal parking.

The issue was discussed at a St Albans City and District Council community, environment and sport scrutiny committee meeting.

The committee said increasing the number of parking wardens should be a "top priority".

They considered how the council has performed since taking back control of 12 of its car parks and on-street parking enforcement.

The car parks involved have 2,000 spaces and 1.5 million users a year while there are over 7,000 street spaces.

The council have said around 13,000 penalty charge notices were issued in the year up until October 2019 when the council resumed control of its car parks.

As well as recruiting more parking wardens, the committee said town and parish councils should be given the opportunity to report parking violations and have the option to pay for extra patrols if required.

They thought signposting for all car parks, both on the street and online, should be improved and the new telephone number to report concerns should be better publicised.

Finally, the procedure for tenants to get resident's parking permit should be reconsidered so they do not need to provide more documents than homeowners, and the installing of charging points at car parks should be investigated.

The committee's chairman Cllr Annie Brewster said: "The council's parking services team was faced with a formidable challenge when taking over direct management of car parks and parking enforcement last year.

"It is clear that in the succeeding months, a number of issues have arisen with many residents and businesses looking for us to make major changes to the current arrangements.

"The overwhelming view of the committee was the number one priority has to be getting a full complement of civil enforcement officers on the streets to ensure parking restrictions are being properly applied.

“A number of other issues were also raised and these will be passed on to the task and finish group to highlight in its progress report.

“A number of other issues were also raised and these will be passed on to the task and finish group to highlight in its progress report."

A report on progress since the council resumed control of the car parks will be put together by the group and submitted to the council's cabinet by April 23.

To report concerns about parking, call 01727 845283