The cost of repairing roads damaged by the laying of pipes and cables should be borne by the utilities responsible and not by the public, according to an assembly committee.
The chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Mr Billy Bell (UUP), was speaking following the revelation that in 1998-99 the North's Roads Service had spent only half the amount required to maintain the road network "in a reasonable condition".
"In our view the Department of Regional Development should seek to recover costs for damage caused by the utilities, similar to the principle of the `polluter pays' in environmental damage," he said.
The committee heard that illegal parking in Belfast may have cost the Roads Service up to £300,000 a year in lost parking fees. The committee called for a measures to reduce illegal parking, including regular reviews of fines to deter it.
It was recommended that penalties be imposed on contractors whose ticketing machines perform poorly. Many machines were reportedly faulty and should be replaced by models with enhanced capabilities, the committee heard.
Concern was expressed that the Department of Regional Development was unable to obtain detailed information from the RUC on the charges it made for providing traffic wardens. "In effect the RUC was issuing invoices without knowing what it was charging for, and the Department was paying for traffic warden services without knowing what it was paying for," Mr Bell said.
The committee called for parking offences to be decriminalised in line with other regions where local authorities are responsible for parking. High levels of absenteeism and overtime costs among traffic wardens were also matters for concern.