Ban on parking spy cameras proposed

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said he wanted to "rein in over-zealous and unfair rules", and that traffic wardens with cameras could do the job instead.

Static and car mounted cameras have been used to issue more than 10 million fines, totalling £301m, in the past five years, the Conservatives say.

Councils say the cameras help to keep roads safe, especially near schools.

The law could be changed "well before Easter", Mr Pickles told the BBC.

The Conservative Party has announced a series of proposals including:

• Banning static CCTV parking cameras and car mounted cameras, instead allowing only visible traffic wardens to film vehicles
• Publishing "open data" on parking
• Updating guidelines to help people use local shops more easily
• Improving people's "rights of redress" when fined inappropriately
• Stopping "unacceptable and aggressive parking fine collection practices"
• Reviewing "unnecessary" yellow lines

Civil liberties campaigners called for a "serious debate" about what they said was the UK's "uniquely high level of CCTV surveillance".

Motoring groups suggested parking policies were designed to make profit rather than improve roads.

"What really irritates drivers is the street-level hostility they feel is being waged against them," said AA president Edmund King.

"Drivers feel that civil enforcement officers are lurking in every street and are not there to deter them but to issue a ticket as soon as the driver's back is turned."