But it can reveal the firm behind the county's army of traffic wardens has won the contract to carry on enforcing on-street parking when the current agreement expires in September.

NSL Services Group, which changed its name from NCP Services earlier this year, will carry on providing civil enforcement officers across Lancashire for another five years.
The company first won the contract to run the service in 2004 when the Parkwise scheme was set up.

As well as winning a further five year contract, there will be an option to extend the agreement for a further two years.
Alastair Cooper, NSL Director, said: "We were delighted to assist Lancashire County Council in establishing the service, and are pleased to note that the operating methods developed in Lancashire have now been adopted in county-wide operations elsewhere in the UK."

The new service goes live in September, and NSL say although their operation will remain the same the contract will use new hand-held computers, which the company says will increase the accuracy of their operations.
A spokesman for Lancashire County Council confirmed that NSL had been chosen to continue on-street enforcement.

The Parkwise scheme was embroiled in controversy last year after it emerged that the service was losing around £8 on every ticket issued and would have lost almost £1m by September this year.
However, the financial figures were later revised after it was realised cash from on-street parking metres in Preston and Lancaster had not been taken into account.

That led to a decision not to continue Parkwise in its current form, where the county council administrates the scheme and district councils enforce it.
District councils are still debating how they will proceed with off-street enforcement.
Some, like Preston, have promised their own car park wardens will take a more "common sense" approach to enforcement and will offer drivers "service with a smile".

>> Vote in our latest web poll

lepone: Every section and special feature can be found on a single page