Plans are afoot to enlist new 'traffic officers' to combat the menace of illegal parking in the City of Hamilton, Mayor Jay Bluck revealed yesterday.

The idea is for up to six TCD-trained staff to aid both the Police and the city's six traffic wardens in tackling problems such as speeding and double parking.

Mr. Bluck has complained recently about what is, in his view, an inadequate number of Police officers on the streets.

He cited this as the root of the issue.

"Double parking causes a major problem as it jams up the traffic, but without any Police in the city on the streets, people double-park with impunity," he claimed.

"The thought is that we can possibly get some trained traffic officers whose jobs it would be to enforce the rules and regulations.

"The officers would be working for the Corporation and would have the power to issue tickets.

"We hope this would improve the traffic flow. We have been in discussions with the Ministries of Labour and Home Affairs and Transport and we think this may be an interim solution between having no policing and getting Police on the streets. "We would have the officers on almost every block so that people would not be able to stop their car in the middle of the road while they run to the ATM. I'd say 'stick a ticket on them,'" added Mr. Bluck.

He explained that trained officers of this type already work at venues such as the Airport.

He said it would be possible to launch the idea in the city without the need for new legislation.

Minister of Tourism and Transport Ewart Brown said yesterday that the plans had his backing. "We are working with the Corporation to hopefully fix some of the problems," he said.

The move comes amid plans to carry out the first traffic study since 1998 in the city in order to address car parking and congestion problems. Mr. Bluck said the idea is to plan how development over the next eight to ten years ? such as improving the waterfront and building a new hotel on the Par-la-Ville car park ? will affect traffic. He wishes to ensure that vehicles coming in from both east and west can find parking spaces without having to traverse the city centre. A top priority is moving eye-sore parking lots underground wherever feasible.

"If I had my way we would be able have underground parking for all cars and bikes. There would be no on-street parking at all ? not that that's likely any time soon," he said.

Mr. Bluck believes moving cars underground would make the city a more pleasant place and allow for improved pedestrian precincts. Under long-standing plans to develop the Par-la-Ville car park into a new executive hotel, he said, an underground car park would be built, which would be available to the public and linked to Queen Street via a pedestrian tunnel.

He added that the Corporation was also looking at converting the existing ground level car park near Island Trading on the junction of Reid Street and Cavendish Road to a multi-storey facility. No date has been set for the traffic survey, although Mr. Bluck said it would get underway as soon as possible.e invited the Police to respond to Mr. Bluck's remarks, but no reply was forthcoming by Press time.